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FUNCTIONAL  PERIODICITY 

An  Elxperimental  Study  of  the  Mental  and  Motor  Abilities 
of  Women  During  Menstruation 


By 
LETA  STETTER  HOLLINGWORTH,  PH.  D. 


TEACHERS  COLLEGE.  COLUMBIA  UNIVERSITY 
CONTRIBUTIONS  TO  EDUCATION,  No.  69 


PUBLISHED  BY 

airarlyrrH  (Hoiltgt.  (Unlumbia  IninprHttg 
NEW  YORK  CITY 

1914 


Copyright,  1914,  by  Leta  Stetter  Hollingworth 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Introduction v 

Review  of  Previous  Literature 1 

Aim,  Scope  and  Method  of  the  Experiment 11 

Speed  of  Voluntary  Movement  (The  Tapping  Test)     -    -    -    •    -  15 

Tapping  with  Stylus. 

Tapping  with  Key. 

Steadiness - 32 

Motor  Fatiguability 38 

Speed  and  Accuracy  of  Perception  (Color  Naming) 42 

Controlled  Association  (Opposites  Test)     -.- 54 

Learning  (Typewriting) 66 

Curves  of  Physiological  Processes  Compared  with  Curves  of  Mental 

AND  Motor  Performance 69 

An  Extensive  Experiment 86 

Conclusions 92 

Bibliography 100 


INTRODUCTION 

The  present  study  concerns  itself  with  the  mental  and  motor 
abilities  of  women  during  menstruation,  a  question  of  special 
interest  in  the  United  States,  where  co-education  and  the  higher 
education  of  women  are  well  established. 

The  literature  of  ethnology  relates  in  variety  and  detail  the 
ancient  superstitions  and  primitive  practices  that  center  around 
the  functional  periodicity  of  women.  Menstruation  has  always 
been  the  object  of  superstition  and  taboo,  and  is  such  even 
among  the  civilized  peoples  of  to-day.  As  an  instance  of  the 
long  survival  of  savage  notions  it  may  be  pointed  out  that  The 
British  Medical  Journal  as  late  as  1878  contains  a  long  and 
serious  correspondence  and  discussion  as  to  whether  a  menstruat- 
ing woman  will  contaminate  the  food  which  she  touches.  One 
contributor  puts  himself  on  record  as  follows : 

"  I  thought  the  fact  was  so  generally  known  to  every  housewife  and 
cook  that  meat  would  spoil  if  salted  at  the  menstrual  period,  that  I 
am  surprised  to  see  so  many  letters  in  The  Journal.  If  I  am  not  mis- 
taken, the  question  was  mooted  many  years  ago  in  the  periodicals.  It 
is  undoubtedly  the  fact  that  meat  will  be  tainted  if  cured  by  women 
at  the  catamenial  period.  .  .  .  Whatever  the  rationale  may  be,  I 
can  speak  positively  as  to  the  fact."i 

Another  contributor,  opposed  to  medical  education  for  women, 
exclaims : 

"  If  such  bad  results  accrue  from  a  woman  curing  dead  meat  whilst 
she  is  menstruating,  what  would  result,  under  similar  conditions,  from 
her  attempt  to  cure  living  flesh  in  her  midwifery  or  surgical  practice?" 

In  reviewing  certain  of  the  primitive  beliefs  and  rites  that  rose 
in  connection  with  this  phenomenon,  Havelock  Ellis,^  in  a 
chapter  on  "  The  Functional  Periodicity  of  Women,"  remarks : 
"  It  is  not  difficult  to  see  how  the  menstrual  function  has  given 

1  W.  Storey,  Brit.  Med.  Jour.,  1878,  p.  633.  see  also  pp.  324,  353,  590. 
It  is  only  fair  to  the  editors  of  The  British  Medical  Journal  to  say 
that  they  countenanced  these  contributions  only  as  an  experiment,  to  see 
how  widely  superstition  was  rife  among  civilized  and  educated  persons. 

2  Ellis,   Man   and  Woman,    1909,  ed.,  p.  283. 

v 


vi  Introduction 

origin  to  the  erroneous  notion  that  women  are  natural  invaHds. 
Thus  Galliani  in  his  Dialogue  stir  les  Fcmmes  describes  woman 
as  '  un  animal  naturellement  faible  et  malade.'  "  Galliani  also 
refers  to  "  the  symptoms  so  well  known  in  every  race  of  man, 
and  which  make  her  (woman)  an  invalid  for  six  days  during 
every  month,  which  makes  at  least  a  fifth  part  of  her  life. — 
They  are  caressing  and  engaging  as  invalids  usually  are. — 
Quickly  irritated,  they  are  promptly  appeased.  A  mere  nothing 
amuses  them,  like  invalids." 

In  the  late  seventies  and  the  early  eighties  of  the  nineteenth 
century,  when  the  question  of  higher  education  for  women  was 
much  discussed,  a  great  number  of  books  and  articles  appeared 
setting  forth  women's  unfitness  to  be  educated.  Many  agitated 
prophets  raised  their  voices  to  warn  the  public  against  the 
dangers  of  admitting  women  to  the  universities,  and  one  of  the 
strongest  arguments  against  the  movement  was  based  on  physio- 
logical grounds.  Henry  Maudsley,^  writing  in  1874,  shows  the 
attitude  typical  of  the  time: 

"  This  is  a  matter  of  physiology,  not  a  matter  of  sentiment ;  it  is  not 
a  mere  question  of  larger  or  smaller  muscles,  but  of  the  energy  and 
power  of  endurance,  of  the  nerve  force  which  drives  the  intellectual 
and  muscular  machinery;  not  a  question  of  two  bodies  and  minds  that 
are  in  equal  physical  condition,  but  of  one  body  and  mind  capable  of 
sustained  and  regular  hard  labor,  and  of  another  body  and  mind  which 
for  one  quarter  of  each  month,  during  the  best  years  of  life,  is  more 
or  less  sick  and  unfit  for  hard  work." 

In  1883  W.  LeC.  Stevens'*  collected  data  from  the  very  few 
colleges  which  were  then  co-educational,  to  determine  whether 
Columbia  might  admit  women  "  without  detriment "  to  the  col- 
lege. Since  "  the  physiological  argument "  was  "  that  which  is 
really  of  most  importance,"  a  questionnaire  was  sent  to  the 
presidents  of  co-educational  colleges.  President  Andrew  D, 
White  of  Cornell  reported  that  on  the  whole  the  eflfect  of  co- 
education had  been  favorable  to  the  health  of  women.  Presi- 
dent Angell  of  Michigan  declared,  "  Most  women  are  more  vig- 
orous at  their  graduation  than  on  their  admission."  President 
Beach  of  Wesleyan  said  of  women :  "  They  are  rarely  ever  on 
the  sick  list.  I  think  in  this  respect  they  do  much  better  than  the 
young  men." 

3  Maudsley,   Sex  in  Mind   and  Education,   1884,  p.  29. 

*  Stevens,  The  Admission  of  Women  to  Universities,  1883,  p.  5. 


Introduction  vii 

Quotations  might  be  multiplied  to  illustrate  the  differences  of 
expert  opinion  that  arose  and  attained  publication  at  this  time. 
Over  thirty  years  have  passed  since  then,  and  women  are  grad- 
uating by  thousands  from  the  institutions  of  higher  learning. 
Yet  the  literature  of  gynecology  still  abounds  in  inconsistencies, 
differences  of  opinion,  and  contradictory  instances  in  the  matter 
which  is  the  subject  of  this  research.  In  view  of  the  interest 
of  the  subject  for  educators  of  women,  and  for  women  students 
themselves,  especially  under  conditions  of  co-education,  where 
the  women  compete  with  the  men  on  a  high  level  of  intellectual 
efficiency,  and  on  the  same  terms,  it  seems  that  the  matter  should 
be  subjected  to  methods  and  instruments  of  precision,  and  that 
exact  data  should  be  collected.  Nor  is  the  matter  of  pedagogical 
import  alone ;  its  sociological  and  economic  implications  are  by 
no  means  negligible. 

The  present  study,  therefore,  represents  an  effort  to  treat 
objectively  this  phenomenon  concerning  which  such  a  remarkable 
variety  of  folk-lore  and  superstition  has  survived  among  civ- 
ilized peoples  from  the  days  of  savagery  and  magic.  The  work 
has  extended  over  about  three  years.  The  method  was  adopted 
almost  bodily  from  the  monograph  of  Professor  H.  L.  Holling- 
worth  on  "  The  Influence  of  Caffein  on  Mental  and  Motor  Ef- 
ficiency." It  was,  in  fact,  first  suggested  to  me  by  this  mono- 
graph that  the  influence  of  functional  periodicity  on  mental  and 
motor  work  might  be  objectively  tested. 

I  am  especially  indebted  to  Professor  Edward  L.  Thorndike, 
under  whose  supervision  the  work  was  accomplished,  and  who 
aided  me  with  indispensable  counsel  and  advice  on  matters  of 
general  and  statistical  treatment. 

To  Miss  Caroline  E.  Stackpole  and  Professor  Maurice  Bige- 
low,  of  the  Department  of  Biology  at  Columbia  University,  I 
am  under  obligation  for  aid  in  securing  subjects  for  the  Exten- 
sive Experiment.  My  sister.  Miss  Ruth  Stetter,  gave  me  much 
help  in  the  matter  of  taking  records  in  the  Extensive  Experi- 
ment, and  in  various  other  matters.  Mr.  William  A.  Perlzweig, 
of  the  College  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons,  translated  for  me 
the  dissertation  of  the  Russian,  Voitsechovsky,  without  which 
my  work  would  have  been  incomplete. 

The  custom  which  is  followed  by  the  members  of  The  New 


viii  Introduction 

York  Academy  of  Medicine  of  opening  their  library  to  the  public 
every  day  for  several  hours  has  very  greatly  facilitated  my 
labors,  and  it  seems  fitting  that  I  should  express  my  appreciation 
of  this  fact  here. 

My  debt  is  greatest  to  the  twenty-five  individuals  who  served 
for  me  as  subjects.  They  were  without  exception  busy  women 
and  men.  Had  they  not  been  willing  to  give  time  and  effort  to 
this  undertaking,  without  compensation  of  any  kind,  the  work 
could  not  have  been  done  at  all. 

L.  S.  H. 


FUNCTIONAL  PERIODICITY 
I 

REVIEW  OF  PREVIOUS  LITERATURE^ 

There  is  almost  no  previous  literature  of  this  subject,  if  we 
limit  our  consideration  to  experimental  reports.  A  few  statis- 
tical studies,  to  be  briefly  summarized  later,  have  been  made, 
however,  and  scientific  opinion  has  expressed  itself  frequently 
and  freely. 

Michelet^  refers  to  the  function  as  "  the  cause  of  a  whole 
drama."     IMarion^  declares, 

"  We  cannot  but  say  that  during  the  best  part  of  her  life,  woman, 
even  the  most  strongly  constituted  and  perfectly  balanced  in  mind  and 
body,  is  subject  to  disturbances  more  or  less  grave,  which  are  char- 
acteristic of  her  sex.  She  inevitably  has  periods  of  physical  lassitude 
which  may  quite  incapacitate  her;  of  general  weakness,  semi-morbid 
in  character;  of  nervous  excitability,  which  tends  to  be  abnormal, 
almost  necessarily  accompanied  by  a  corresponding  mental  condition 
of  vague  sadness,  restlessness  and  fear." 

Havelock  Ellis*  says, 

"  It  is  but  the  outward  manifestation  of  a  monthly  physiological  cycle, 
which  influences  throughout  the  month  the  whole  of  a  woman's  physical 
and  psychic  organism.  Whatever  organic  activity  we  investigate  with 
any  precision,  we  find  traces  of  this  rhythm.  While  a  man  may  be  said, 
at  all  events  relatively,  to  live  on  a  plane,  a  woman  always  lives  on 
the  upward  or  downward  slope  of  a  curve.  This  is  a  fact  of  the 
very  first  importance  in  the  study  of  the  physiological  or  psychological 
phenomena  in  women.  Unless  we  always  bear  it  in  mind  we  cannot 
attain  to  any  true  knowledge  of  the  physical,  mental  or  moral  life 
of  women." 


1  A  complete  survey  of  the  various  theories  of  menstruation,  its  cause, 
and  its  part  in  the  organic  economy,  may  be  gained  by  reference  to  the 
appended  Bibliography.  It  is  no  part  of  the  present  purpose  to  review 
these  theories. 

2  Michelet,  L'Amour,  1859  (see  Ellis,  op.  cit.). 

3  H.  Marion,  Psychologic  de  la  Femme,  1900,  p.  59- 
*  H.  Ellis,  op.  cit.,  p.  284. 

1 


2  Functional  Periodicity 

Max  Runge,^  a  g\'necologist  of  Gottingen,  writes  as  follows: 

"  Every  twenty-eight  days  in  the  case  of  matured  woman,  a  process 
takes  place  which  is  called  menstruation.  Its  essential  manifestations 
are  local,  but  the  general  mental  and  physical  condition  of  the  woman, 
as  all  physicians  know,  almost  always  also  suffers  a  change,  distinct 
though  subject  to  large  individual  differences,  which  may  best  be  described 
as  irritable  weakness.  Physiological  experiments  teach  that  the  organic 
functions  of  woman  are  rhythmical.  Temperature,  blood  pressure,  motor 
power,  and  other  functions  are  subject  to  a  cycle,  which  in  general 
rises  before  the  beginning  of  menstruation  and  declines  immediately 
before  and  with  its  beginning.  Only  the  excitability  of  the  nervous 
system  and  caloric  radiation  reach  a  climax  with  menstruation  itself. 

"An  experienced  observer  will  be  able  to  notice  many  interesting  phases 
of  the  mental  changes  in  woman  at  menstruation.  Even  though  scien- 
tific experiments  are  as  yet  lacking,  it  may  nevertheless  be  stated  that 
a  very  great  number  of  healthy  women  are  mentally  different  during 
menstruation,  especially  on  the  first  and  second  days.  Thus  woman 
needs  protection  during  menstruation.  All  demands  on  her  strength 
must  be  remitted.  Every  month  for  several  days  she  is  enfeebled,  if 
not  downright  ill." 

Psychiatrists  lay  much  stress  on  the  significance  of  this  func- 
tion in  nervous  diseases.  In  clinical  pictures  it  figures  frequently. 
Clouston"  writes, 

"  It  has  a  psychology  of  its  own,  of  which  the  main  features  are  a 
slight  irritability  or  tendency  toward  lack  of  mental  inhibition  just 
before  the  process  commences  each  month,  a  slight  diminution  of  energy 
or  tendency  to  mental  paralysis  and  depression  during  the  first  day  or 
two  of  its  continuance,  and  a  very  considerable  excess  of  energizing 
power  and  excitation  of  feeling  during  the  first  week  or  ten  days  after 
it   has  entirely   ceased." 

Marion'^  in  this  connection  says,  "  It  will  suffice  to  say  with 
the  same  author  [Dr.  Sicard*]  that  the  mental  condition  of 
woman,  under  the  influence  of  functional  disturbances,  may  vary 
from  simple  malaise,  from  simple  moodiness,  to  the  complete 
loss  of  reason." 


5  Max  Runge,  Das  Weib  in  s.  Geschlechtliche  Eigenart,  1900,  p.  3. 

^  Clouston,  ^Iental  Diseases,  1887,  p.  480. 

■^  H.  Marion,  o/>.  cit.,  p.  58. 

"II  suffrait  de  dire  avec  le  meme  auteur  (Dr.  Sicard)^ — que  I'etat 
mental  de  la  femme,  sous  I'empire  de  troubles  fonctionelles,  pent  varier 
du  simple  malaise,  de  la  simple  inquietude  de  I'ame  jusqu'a  I'alienation, 
a  la  perte  complete  de  la  raison,  en  modifiant  la  moralite  des  actes  depuis 
la  simple  attenuation  jusqu'a  I'irresponsabilite  absolue !  " 

8  Dr.  S.  Icard  is  no  doubt  here  intended,  since  this  is  a  statement  made 
by  that  author  in  his  work  on  "  La  Femme  Pendant  la  Periode  Men- 
struelle"      (See   Bibliography.) 


Review  of  Previous  Literature  3 

The  criminal  psychologist  also  has  his  interest  in  the  matter, 
and  his  opinion  is  quote-worthy.  Gross®  says,  in  discussing  the 
value  of  women's  testimony, 

"  The  menstrual  period  tends  at  all  ages,  from  the  youngest  child  to 
the  full  grown  woman,  to  modify  the  quality  of  perception  and  the  truth 
of  description.  .  .  .  It  is  not  improbable  that  a  menstruating  woman 
shall  have  heard,  seen,  felt  and  smelled  things  which  others  and  she 
herself  would  not  have  perceived  at  another  time." 

P.  J.  Alobius,^"  in  a  somewhat  testy  little  volume,  remarks, 

"  Moreover,  the  law  should  take  account  of  the  natural  feeble-minded- 
ness  of  woman  (psychiologisches  Schwachsinn  des  Weibes).  .  .  .  To 
the  considerations  just  mentioned  must  be  added  that  woman  during  a 
considerable  part  of  her  life  is  to  be  looked  upon  as  abnormal.  I  do 
not  need  to  point  out  to  physicians  the  significance  of  menstruation 
in  mental  life." 

Lombroso^^  indicates  the  fact  that  the  madness  of  the  female 
criminal  lunatic  becomes  more  pronounced  at  the  time  of  men- 
struation, and  Ellis  remarks  upon  the  frequency  of  the  suicidal 
impulse  at  this  time :  "  These  facts  of  morbid  psychology  are 
very  significant ;  they  emphasize  the  fact  that  even  in  the  health- 
iest woman  a  worm,  however  harmless,  gnaws  periodically  at 
the  roots  of  life." 

These  remarks  and  opinions  are  quoted  to  show  the  attitude 
of  scientific  men  on  the  subject  of  the  present  inquiry.  The  im- 
plication certainly  is  that  the  functional  periodicity  of  woman 
must  profoundly  influence  her  mental  life  and  condition  her 
intellectual  effort.  Indeed  many  explicit  affirmations  of  this 
alleged  fact  are  found  in  the  literature. 

Engelmann^^  states  that,  "  mental  energy  and  acumen  are  as 
a  rule  diminished  during  the  flow,  at  least  as  is  affirmed  by 
perhaps  sixty-five  per  cent  of  the  many  questioned,  who  state 

*  Gross,  Criminal  Psychology,  1911  (Trans,  from  1905  revised  ed.), 
pp.  312-315. 

i<>  P.  J.  Mobius,  t)ber  den  Physiologischen  Schwachsinn  des  Weibes, 
1908.  p.  26. 

"Auch  das  Gesetz  sollte  auf  den  physiologischen  Schwachsinn  des 
Weibes  Riicksicht  nehmen.  .  .  .  Zu  den  bisher  angestellten  Erwag- 
ungen  kommt  noch  das  hinzu,  dass  das  Weib  wahrend  eines  betracht- 
lichen  Theiles  seines  Lebens  als  abnorm  anzusehen  ist.  Ich  brauche  vor 
Aertzen  nicht  iiber  die  Bedeutung  der  Menstruation — fiir  das  geistige 
Leben  zu  reden." 

11  Lombroso,  The  Female  Offender,  trans.  1896,  p.  294. 

^2  Engelmann,  The  American  Girl  of  Today,  Trans.  Am.  Gjm.  Soc, 
1900,  vol.  25,  p.  32. 


4  Functional  Periodicity 

that  mental  exertion  and  study  at  that  time  are  more  difficult  and 
wearing,  and  require  greater  effort." 

G.  Stanley  Hall^^  declares  that  "  Women  .  .  .  can  make  less 
accurate  and  energetic  movements,  and  the  mental  activities  are 
less  brilliant  "  at  menstruation,  and  that  they  "  can  do  less  work 
with  mind  and  body."  Hall  fixes  the  period  of  maximum  effi- 
ciency after  the  hemorrhage  ceases.  He  says  further,  "  Relation 
of  mind  and  body  are  nowhere  more  intimate  than  here  (during 
the  menstrual  period)  and  a  psychology  that  does  not  take  care- 
ful account  of  this  is  defective." 

In  discussing  the  matter  of  efficiency  Ellis^*  writes  that  there 
is  greater  impressionability,  greater  suggestibility,  and  dimin- 
ished self-control ;  there  is  increased  nervous  tension  and  a 
greater  muscular  excitability.  He  thinks  also  that  "  The  super- 
stitions regarding  the  evil  influences  exercised  by  women  at 
their  periods  on  the  food,  etc.,  may  be  supported  by  an  actual 
decreased  success  in  such  operations  at  this  time  due  to  a  physio- 
logical decrease  in  energy  and  skill." 

Unfortunately  for  the  critical  reader,  these  writers  do  not 
tell  how  they  arrived  at  the  facts  and  conclusions  which  they 
state,  whether  by  common  observation,  questionnaire,  or  by  exact 
experimental  methods.  There  is,  however,  a  group  of  statistical 
studies,  made  during  the  eighties  and  nineties.  These  were  con- 
ducted with  the  aim  of  discovering  the  effects  of  college  educa- 
tion on  the  health  of  women,  and  particularly  on  the  function 
of  menstruation. 

In  1885  The  Association  of  Collegiate  Alumnse^'  completed  the 
first  comprehensive  statistical  study  of  the  health  of  college 
women.  A  questionnaire  comprising  40  questions  was  sent  to 
a  considerable  number  of  graduates  of  12  colleges,  of  whom  705 
responded.  It  was  found  that  of  this  number  239  abstained  from 
physical,  2  from  mental  work,  and  73  from  both,  during  their 
periods. 

In  1886  John  Dewey^"  published  a  further  analysis  of  the 
figures  gathered  by  the  Collegiate  Alumnse,  with  comments  and 


13  G.  Stanley  Hall,  Adolescence,  1907,  vol.  I,  p.  472. 
^*  H.  Ellis,  op.  cit,  p.  291. 

15  Association  of  Collegiate  Alumnae,  Health  Statistics  of  Women  Col- 
lege  Graduates,    1885. 

16  John  Dewey,  Health  and  Sex  in  Higher  Education,  Pop.  Sci.  Mo., 
1886. 


Review  of  Previous  Literature  5 

suggestions.  He  pointed  out  that  of  290  college  girls  those  who 
reported  good  health  on  entering  college  were  78.1  per  cent; 
those  during  college,  74.9  per  cent;  those  after  graduation,  77.9 
per  cent.  It  must  be  remarked  here  in  criticism  that  no  control 
records  were  collected  of  the  health  of  college  boys  before,  dur- 
ing and  after  college;  nor  of  girls  during  the  same  years  who 
did  not  go  to  college. 

Dewey  further  noted  the  fact  that  during  the  pubescent  period 
53  per  cent  were  subject  to  pain,  irregularity,  etc. ;  during  col- 
lege life,  66  per  cent;  after  it,  64  per  cent.  Also  here  there 
were  no  control  reports  made  by  sisters  or  cousins  who  stayed 
at  home.  Of  those  who  entered  college  one  or  two  years  after 
the  beginning  of  menstruation,  20.5  per  cent  reported  bad  health ; 
of  those  who  entered  from  three  to  five  years  after,  17.7  per 
cent;  of  those  who  entered  five  years  or  more  after,  15.4  per 
cent.  Of  those  who  entered  at  sixteen  or  less,  28  per  cent  lost 
in  health,  and  17  per  cent  gained;  of  those  who  entered  over 
twenty,  18  per  cent  lost  and  28.5  per  cent  gained.  Among 
female  colleges  55  per  cent  said  that  they  abstained  from  study 
or  exercise  during  periods ;  in  co-educational  institutions,  25 
per  cent. 

The  fact  that  a  certain  number  of  girls  abstained  from  work  at 
periods  is  evidently  taken  to  mean  that  the  individuals  were 
unable  to  work  at  such  times.  It  has  been  pointed  out  by  Dr. 
Clelia  Mosher^"  that  the  tradition  that  women  must  be  incapaci- 
tated at  periods  strongly  tends  to  increase  the  idea  that  effi- 
ciency is  impaired.  Indeed,  it  will  have  come  within  the  ex- 
perience of  almost  any  woman  student  or  teacher  that  girls  some- 
times remit  work  at  periods,  not  because  they  are  incapacitated, 
but  because  they  have  been  instructed  to  do  so. 

G.  A.  Preston^*  found  that  of  over  200  college  girls,  57  per 
cent  suflfered  no  prostration ;  29.8  per  cent  were  free  from  pain ; 
72.2  per  cent  were  regular ;  and  only  2.75  per  cent  dropped  out 
from  ill  health,  as  compared  with  2.85  per  cent  of  college  boys 
from  Amherst, 


^^  Clelia  Mosher,  Normal  Menstruation  and  Some  of  the  Factors 
Modifying  It,  Johns  Hopkins  Hasp.  Bull.,  Apr.,  May,  June,  1901. 

i*"  G.  A.  Preston,  Influence  of  College  Life  on  Health,  Com.  Mass. 
Med.  Soc,  1895,  p.  167. 


6  Functional  Periodicity 

Mary  P.  Jacobi/"  on  the  basis  of  a  statistical  study,  concluded 
that,  "  There  is  nothing  in  the  nature  of  menstruation  to  imply 
the  necessity  or  even  the  desirability  of  rest  for  women  whose 
menstruation  is  entirely  normal."  She  concurred  in  the  conten- 
tion that  there  is  nothing  in  university  education  that  might  be 
peculiarly  injurious  to  the  health  of  women.  She  ascribed  the 
claim  of  many  that  they  are  better  during  college  partly  to 
change  of  climate,  but  more  to  the  benign  influences  of  inter- 
esting work,  freedom  from  the  routine  of  petty  home  cares,  and 
increased  knowledge  of  hygiene. 

Engelmann,'''  previously  quoted  in  this  monograph,  also  used 
a  questionnaire,  and  based  his  conclusions  on  the  introspective 
(retrospective?)  accounts  thus  obtained.  But  disparity  between 
introspective  judgment  of  performance  and  actual  organic  effi- 
ciency is  a  common  finding. 

The  objections  to  statistical  studies  in  matters  of  this  kind, 
and  the  well  recognized  sources  of  error,  need  not  be  rehearsed 
in  detail  here.  In  general,  the  replies  to  questions  were  based  on 
introspection ;  may  have  been  influenced  on  the  one  hand  by 
what  is  traditionally  taught,  on  the  other  by  unwillingness  to 
confess  weakness ;  may  be  invalid  as  bases  for  conclusions  be- 
cause college  women  may  be  a  selected  group  with  regard  to 
health  and  endurance. 

Very  recently  a  study  of  the  effects  of  school  work  on  men- 
struation has  been  made  by  Dr.  A.  E.  Arnold,-^  who  had  as 
subjects  normal  school  students  over  i8  years  of  age.  Arnold 
says: 

"  From  my  experience  as  a  physician  and  teacher  I  was  convinced 
that  much  of  the  incapacity  claimed  was  of  a  fictitious  nature,  and  that 
not  only  was  exercise  at  this  time  not  injurious,  but  on  the  other  hand, 
directly  beneficial." 

Acting  on  this  conviction,  it  w-as  determined  to  excuse  from 
physical  or  mental  work  at  menstrual  periods  only  those  girls  in 
whose  case  there  was  some  definite  and  discoverable  difficulty. 
The  study  includes  the  records  of  238  individuals  for  all  periods 
for  about  two  years.    Each  girl  kept  a  carefully  supervised  ac- 

18  Mary  P.  Jacobi,  The  Question  of  Rest  for  Women  During  Menstrua- 
tion, 1876,  p.  26. 

20  Engelmann,  op.  cit.,  p.  19. 

21  A.  E.  Arnold,  The  Effect  of  School  Work  on  Menstruation,  Amer. 
Phys.  Educ.  Review,  Feb.,  1914. 


Review  of  Previous  Literature  7 

count  of  every  menstrual  period,  with  respect  to  the  duration, 
amount  of  pain  and  state  of  general  well  being,  under  these  con- 
ditions in  which  no  respite  was  allowed  from  physical  and 
mental  work.  As  a  conclusion  Arnold  states,  "  So  far  our 
investigation  shows  all  improvement." 

Two  investigations  by  exact  methods  have  proceeded  from  St. 
Petersburg.  The  first  of  these,  published  in  1887,  was  physio- 
logical rather  than  psychological.  This  was  the  study  of  Finkel- 
stein--  who  experimented  on  twenty  subjects  to  determine  the 
effects  of  functional  periodicity  on  the  field  of  vision.  He  reports 
a  concentric  narrowing  of  the  field,  beginning  one,  two  or  three 
days  beforehand,  the  field  reaching  its  minimum  on  the  third  or 
fourth  day,  and  gradually  expanding  again,  reaching  normal  on 
the  seventh  or  eighth  day  after  the  beginning  of  the  change. 

The  second  of  the  studies  from  St.  Petersburg  was  published 
by  N.  V.  Voitsechovsky""  in  1909.  This  dissertation  has  never 
been  translated  from  the  Russian,  but  the  portions  describing 
Voitsechovsky's  experiment  were  read  and  summarized  for  the 
writer  of  this  study  by  Mr.  William  A.  Perlzweig,  of  the  Col- 
lege of  Physicians  and  Surgeons.  Voitsechovsky  had  as  sub- 
jects 6  women,  3  under  21  years  of  age  and  3  over  21  years  of 
age.  All  knew  the  purpose  of  the  experiment ;  some  of  them 
experienced  pain  at  menstruation  and  some  did  not;  3  of  them 
were  well  educated,  and  3  were  not.  These  women  were  tested 
daily  for  free  association,  immediate  memory  (digits  and  dissylla- 
bic concrete  nouns),  attention  (Vaschide's  method;  Vaschide's 
table  of  1,000  squares  used),  choice  reaction,  and  simple  re- 
action. Voitsechovsky  does  not  present  his  data  in  such  a  way 
that  the  reliability  of  his  conclusions  can  be  calculated.  He  gives 
only  curves.  This  is  regrettable,  for  the  normal  fluctuations  in 
curves  of  work  such  as  are  presented,  can  be  disentangled  from 
fluctuations  due  to  any  specific  cause  only  with  the  greatest  dif- 
ficulty and  uncertainty  by  mere  inspection  of  the  graph.  Voit- 
sechovsky announced  his  conclusions  as  follows:  (i)  Menstrua- 
tion has  an  unquestionable  influence  on  women's  psychical  sphere, 
which  may  be  stated  in  the  objectively  psychological  way.     (2) 

22  o.  Finkelstein,  On  Changes  in  the  Field  of  Vision  During  Menstrua- 
tion, summarized  in  Opthalmic  Review,  1887,  pp.  323-326. 

23  N.  V.  Voitsechovsky,  The  Influence  of  Menstruation  upon  the  Ner- 
vous and  Psychic  Apparatus  of  Women,  1909. 


8  Functional  Periodicity 

Deviations  of  psychic  activity,  depending  upon  the  menstrual 
process,  cannot  be  explained  by  the  accompanying  sensations  of 
pain,  since  no  strict  parallelism  can  be  observed  between  the 
two  phenomena,  either  in  the  sense  of  intensity,  or  in  the  time 
of  appearance.  (3)  The  indicated  deviations  in  the  psychic  field 
are  determined,  evidently,  by  the  variation  of  the  character  of 
internal  excitations  received  by  the  brain  cortex,  which  arise 
from  the  periodic  fluctuations  of  metabolism  and  the  vital  ac- 
tivity of  organs.  (4)  Simple  reaction  in  the  majority  of  cases 
does  not  exhibit  definite  fluctuations  in  connection  with  men- 
struation. (5)  The  average  time  of  choice  reaction  is  lengthened 
at  the  menstrual  period,  while  its  average  variation  is  increased. 
(6)  In  view  of  the  irregularity  of  variation  of  the  simple  re- 
actions, the  increase  in  the  case  of  the  choice  reactions  must  be 
leferred  to  delay  in  activity  of  higher  brain  centers.  (7)  The 
velocity  of  the  current  of  freely  arising  associations  is  evidently 
somewhat  arrested  during  menstruation.  (8)  Concentration  (at- 
tention) is  weakened  during  the  menstrual  period,  especially  in 
its  qualitative  aspect.  (9)  Mental  work  capacity  is  lowered  dur- 
ing menstruation,  especially  qualitatively.  (10)  The  revival  of 
sound  impressions  (immediate  memory)  of  words  and  figures 
remains  without  change  in  this  period. 

These  conclusions  of  Voitsechovsky  are  thus  quoted  at  length 
because  they  are  otherwise  at  present  accessible  only  in  the  Rus- 
sian language,  and  because  they  result  from  the  only  strictly 
psychological  investigation  by  exact  methods  that  has  hitherto 
been  made  for  the  express  purpose  of  ascertaining  the  influence 
of  menstruation  on  the  psychic  activities  of  women.  The  work 
came  to  the  attention  of  the  present  writer  only  after  she  had 
completed  the  experiments  recorded  in  this  monograph,  and  it 
so  happened  that  none  of  the  specific  traits  investigated  by  Voit- 
sechovsky were  re-investigated  by  her.  Nevertheless  it  may  be 
stated  that  in  the  opinion  of  the  present  writer  the  graphs  pre- 
sented by  Voitsechovsky  scarcely  bear  him  out  in  his  conclusions. 
It  is  at  least  questionable  whether  the  critical  periods  could  be 
located  on  these  curves  if  they  were  drawn  entirely  solid  with- 
out any  indication  on  the  graphs  themselves  as  to  where  these 
periods  fall,  and  submitted  to  a  number  of  judges.     The  con- 


Review  of  Previous  Literature  9 

elusions  would  certainly  have  gained  in  value  if  they  had  been 
supported  by  the  complete  data,  showing  their  reliability.  Voit- 
sechovsky  gives  no  control  curves  made  by  human  beings  not 
subject  to  the  phenomenon  in  question.  It  is  also  true  that  his 
subjects  all  knew  the  purpose  of  the  experiment,  and  that  their 
attention  vvas  especially  directed  toward  the  menstrual  periods 
as  crucial  moments  in  the  experiment  by  the  fact  that  they  were 
asked  to  introspect.  Thus,  even  if  the  graphs  unquestionably 
showed  by  inspection  an  effect  of  the  menstrual  period,  no  one 
could  be  sure  that  this  was  not  the  result  of  special  agitation 
on  the  part  of  the  subjects,  caused  not  by  menstruation,  but  by 
the  realization  that  they  were  being  tested  at  a  crucial  moment. 

In  order  to  establish  beyond  question  the  validity  of  the  con- 
clusions reached  by  Voitsechovsky,  the  traits  tested  by  him  would 
have  to  be  re-tested,  with  subjects  who  were  naive  to  the  ex- 
periment. These  subjects  would  have  to  be  "  controlled "  by 
other  subjects  who  were  not  characterized  by  the  phenomenon 
in  question.  If  the  data  thus  obtained,  when  fully  presented, 
showed  a  reliable  difference  between  the  curves  of  the  na'ive 
women  subjects  and  those  of  the  control  subjects  (men),  Voit- 
sechovsky's  conclusions  would  be  definitely  established. 

Even  in  the  many  experimental  studies  of  sex  differences  in 
mental  and  motor  traits,  as  well  as  in  other  experimental  work 
where  women  have  been  employed  as  subjects,  it  seems  that  no 
account  has  usually  been  taken  of  the  presumably  important  in- 
fluence of  periodicity.  A  recent  investigation,^*  it  is  true,  of  the 
influence  of  a  drug  on  mental  and  motor  processes  in  the  case 
of  both  sexes,  carefully  noted  the  occurrence  and  duration  of 
periods  in  the  women  subjects.  We  are  left  to  assume  that  the 
investigator  found  no  difference  due  to  periodicity,  since  in  the 
report  of  the  results  this  factor  is  entirely  neglected.  With  the 
exception  of  this  one  research,  the  writer  of  this  monograph 
knows  of  no  instance  where  the  matter  of  periodicity  in  women, 
.=0  much  emphasized  by  writers  on  the  so-called  "  psychology  of 
woman,"  has  been  taken  into  consideration  by  those  engaged  in 
original  scientific  investigation  in  psychology. 

.Several  physiological  investigations  of  variation  in  pulse  rate, 

2*  H.  L.  Hollingworth,  Influence  of  Caffein  on  Mental  and  Motor 
Efficiency,  Arch,  of  Psych.,  No.  22,  1912,  p.  13. 


10  Functional  Periodicity 

blood  pressure,  excretion  and  temperature  are  recorded  in  tlie 
literature  of  gynecology.  These  will  be  noted  in  the  chapter 
which  deals  with  the  correlation  between  curves  of  mental  and 
motor  performance,  and  the  curves  obtained  for  physiological 
changes. 


II 

AIM,   SCOPE,  AND  METHOD  OF  THE  EXPERIMENT 

In  planning  this  experiment  it  was  deemed  wise  to  select 
tests  which  have  already  been  used  by  psychologists  to  measure 
relatively  small  differences,  and  which  have  been  found  to  be 
susceptible  to  a  wide  variety  of  influences.  Two  motor  tests 
were  therefore  selected  on  this  basis, — the  familiar  tapping  test, 
and  a  steadiness  test;  and  two  mental  tests, — color  naming  and 
saying  opposites.  A  measure  of  motor  fatiguability  was  also  in- 
cluded, and  tests  were  made  of  speed  and  accuracy  in  typewriting. 
It  would  be,  of  course,  highly  desirable  to  perform  experiments 
for  sensory  capacity,  suggestibility,  reaction  time,  endurance  in 
working  for  long  periods,  but  it  was  not  possible  to  include  all 
these  within  the  scope  of  the  present  study. 

The  tests  were  given  daily,  under  uniform  conditions ;  at  the 
same  hour  (immediately  after  dinner  in  the  evening),  by  the 
sa;ne  person,  and  in  the  same  order.  They  were  simply  included 
among  the  regular  routine  duties  of  the  subjects.  Any  unavoid- 
able departure  from  the  strictly  usual,  such  as  a  slight  difference 
in  the  hour  of  testing,  headache  on  the  part  of  any  subject,  ner- 
vous strain  during  the  day,  such  as  a  visit  to  the  dentist,  was 
recorded. 

It  was  impossible  to  get  several  subjects  to  undergo  this  long, 
rigidly  conditioned  series  of  tests  during  the  same  months. 
Subjects  had  to  be  taken  when  they  could  be  had  for  several 
months  without  interruption,  every  day  at  the  same  hour.  It 
was  not  easy  to  find  normal  women  who  could  and  would  con- 
form to  these  conditions,  without  compensation  and  without 
information  as  to  what  the  object  of  the  work  might  be.  The 
tests  therefore  extend  over  four  separate  series  of  months. 

The  first  series  of  tests  (on  subjects  Mi,  Fi  and  F2)  began 
on  December  21,  191 1,  and  ended  March  30,  1912.  One  record 
was  made  daily  for  each  subject  in  each  test  until  March  3d. 
It  was  then  thought  that  a  more  reliable  measure  of  efficiency 

11 


12  Functional  Periodicity 

on  a  given  day  could  be  obtained,  and  thereafter  two  trials  daily 
were  taken,  the  first  at  the  same  hour  as  previously,  and  the 
second  just  before  retiring  for  the  night.  Thus  after  March 
3d,  each  record  is  the  average  of  tzvo  trials. 

The  second  series  of  tests  (on  subject  F3)  began  September 
29,  1912,  and  ended  January  7,  1913.  Each  daily  record  in  each 
test  for  F3  is  the  average  of  tzvo  trials.  The  test  for  fatigu- 
ability  (on  subjects  Mi,  F2  and  F3)  was  also  carried  out  during 
the  same  months  in  which  the  tests  on  F3  were  made. 

The  third  series  of  tests  (on  M2  and  F4)  began  on  April  19, 
1913,  and  ended  on  June  12,  1913.  Each  record  in  each  test 
for  M2  and  F4  is  the  average  of  two  trials. 

The  fourth  series  of  tests  (on  subject  F6)  began  November 
13,  1913,  and  ended  February  5,  1914.  Each  record  in  each 
test  for  F6  is  the  average  of  two  trials. 

There  were  eight  subjects,  six  women  and  two  men. 

Fi  was  a  woman  23  years  of  age,  a  student  and  a  teacher 
of  music.  She  was  entirely  naive  to  the  experiment,  having  no 
idea  of  the  purpose  involved.  This  subject  never  suffered  at 
physiological  periods. 

F2  was  a  woman  25  years  of  age,  a  university  graduate  stu- 
dent. She  knew  the  purpose  of  the  experiment,  but  had  no 
preconceived  notion  as  to  how  any  particular  test  would  be 
affected.  This  subject  occasionally  experienced  some  pain  for 
a  few  hours  on  the  first  day  of  the  period,  and  it  may  be  added 
here  that  this  was  the  case  on  January  5th  and  February  ist, 
but  not  on  the  other  first  days  included  in  this  record. 

F3  was  a  woman  24  years  of  age,  a  college  student  whose 
profession  was  teaching.  She,  like  Fi,  was  entirely  naive  to 
the  experiment,  having  no  idea  whatever  of  the  purpose  of  the 
tests.  This  subject  very  rarely  experienced  discomfort  at 
physiological  periods,  and  did  not  at  any  period  included  in  this 
report. 

F4  was  a  woman  36  years  of  age,  the  mother  of  two  children. 
This  subject  was  also  a  teacher,  and  as  such  had  led  a  profes- 
sional life  for  ten  years  before  her  marriage.  She  knew  the 
purpose  of  the  experiment,  and  had  the  preconceived  idea  that 
she  would  prove  to  be  less  steady  during  menstruation.  She  had 
no  preconceived  notion  as  to  the  outcome  of  the  other  tests. 


Aim,  Scope,  and  Method  of  the  Experiment  13 

F4  regularly  experienced  an  attack  of  neuritis  just  before  eachi 
period,  due  to  a  pathological  condition  of  which  she  was  cogni- 
zant, and  frequently  had  a  premonitory  headache.  During  the 
period  itself  this  subject  did  not  suffer. 

F5  was  a  woman  24  years  of  age,  the  mother  of  one  child. 
She  was  a  college  graduate,  but  had  never  led  a  professional 
life.  She  knew  the  purpose  of  the  experiment,  but  had  no  pre- 
conceived idea  as  to  the  outcome  of  the  test.  This  subject  took 
part  only  in  the  experiment  on  typewriting.  She  never  suffered 
at  menstrual  periods. 

F6  was  a  woman  45  years  of  age.  This  subject  had  had  one 
child.  She  was  a  university  graduate,  and  before  her  marriage 
she  had  been  a  teacher.  She  knew  the  purpose  of  the  experi- 
ment, but  had  no  preconceived  ideas  as  to  the  probable  out- 
come of  any  of  the  tests.  She  was  passing  through  the  climac- 
teric, and  to  this  fact  is  due  the  irregularity  of  occurrence  and 
duration  in  the  critical  periods  included  in  her  record.  This  sub- 
ject reported  "  no  pain  "  at  every  one  of  the  three  periods  in- 
cluded. She  reported  "  very  tired  "  on  the  first  day  of  the  first 
period,  and  on  the  fourth  day  of  the  third  period,  the  same  report 
being  also  made  on  days  when  the  subject  was  not  menstruating. 

Two  men  took  the  tests  in  exactly  the  same  way  as  the  women 
subjects,  thus  yielding  a  control  record.  Mi  was  31  years  of 
age,  and  M2  was  37  years  of  age.  Both  were  trained  psycholo- 
gists, and  both  led  professional  lives.  Both  were  in  excellent 
mental  and  physical  health. 

These  women  (except  for  the  recurrence  of  neuritis  in  the  case 
of  F4)  presented  conditions  of  normal  menstrual  health,  and  all 
were  in  excellent  mental  health.  None  of  them  (except  F4)  ex- 
perienced headaches  or  other  nervous  symptoms  at  periods,  and 
they  were  not  accustomed  to  remit  work  or  make  changes  in  their 
usual  programmes  of  occupation.  F2  and  F3  were  sisters.  Fi, 
F4,  F5  and  F6  were  not  related  to  them  nor  to  each  other  in 
any  way.  The  exact  occurrence  of  physiological  periods  was  indi- 
cated by  placing  a  star  (*)  on  the  records  taken  on  the  days 
comprising  each  period.  For  Fi,  F2  and  F3  the  period  presum- 
ably affected  was  five  days  in  duration;  for  F4,  sometimes  five 
and  sometimes  four  days;  for  F5,  six  days;  for  F6,  sometimes 
five  and  sometimes  three  days. 


14  Functional  Periodicity 

It  is  regrettable  that  daily  records  could  not  have  been  taken 
on  a  much  greater  number  of  subjects  (both  men  and  women). 
The  intensive  work  with  eight  subjects  is,  however,  supported 
and  extended  by  similar  experiments  made  on  seventeen  women, 
each  of  these  subjects  being  tested  on  every  third  day  for  a 
period  of  thirty  days.  This  additional  work  will  be  reported  in 
a  subsequent  section  of  this  monograph.  The  intensive  study  of 
the  eight  subjects  who  were  tested  daily  is  based  on  about  4,500 
precise  observations.  The  experiments  were  performed  with 
the  following  questions  in  mind : 

(i)  Will  careful  and  exact  measurement  reveal  a  periodic 
mental  and  motor  inefficiency  in  normal  women? 

(2)  If  inefficiency  be  found,  is  it  a  function  of  physical  suf- 
fering, or  of  profound  psychological  change,  occurring  inde- 
pendently of  pain? 

(3)  If  inefficiency  be  found,  is  it  characteristic  of  the  whole 
period,  or  only  of  a  part  of  it? 

(4)  Is  there  greater  or  less  variability  of  performance  on  days 
presumably  affected? 

(5)  Is  it  possible  to  discern  a  period  of  regularly  recurring 
maximum  efficiency  in  each  month? 

(6)  Is  it  possible  to  find,  by  methods  of  precision,  the  cycle 
referred  to  by  Ellis  and  others? 

(7)  Can  any  relation  be  established  between  the  curves  platted 
for  pulse-rate,  blood  pressure,  temperature,  etc.,  and  the  curves 
of  a  daily  mental  or  motor  performance  extending  over  several 
months  ? 


Ill 

MOTOR  TESTS 
SPEED  OF  VOLUNTARY  MOVEMENT 

The  Tapping  Test  (Part  I) 

This  is  a  familiar  test,  which  has  been  used  to  study  a  great 
variety  of  factors,  such  as  individual  differences,  fatigue,  ef- 
fects of  drugs,  insanity,  etc.  For  a  complete  list  of  investiga- 
tions carried  out  by  means  of  this  test,  see  Whipple's  "  Manual 
of  Mental  and  Physical  Tests,"  p.    114. 

G.  S.  HalP  says  of  this  test,  "  The  greatest  number  of  taps 
that  can  be  made  in  a  given  brief  time  interval  is  an  important 
determination  .  .  .  for  accessory  muscular  control.  .  .  .  This 
measurement  is  very  important,  and  marks  one  of  the  factors  of 
motor  ability.  How  rapidly  two  like  simple  volitional  contrac- 
tions can  follow  each  other  is  perhaps  the  best  index  we  have 
of  will  time." 

The  apparatus  used  for  this  experiment  was  the  very  familiar 
motor-board  employed  in  the  Columbia  laboratory.  The  indi-  . 
vidual  sat  before  this  board,  which  was  placed  on  a  table,  and 
tapped  400  times  at  maximal  speed,  on  a  brass  plate,  with  a 
small  brass  rod,  each  tap  being  registered  by  an  electric  counter. 
The  subject  began  tapping  at  a  signal  from  the  operator,  and 
the  time  of  performance  was  recorded  by  the  operator  with  a 
stop  watch,  in  fifths  of  a  second.  Thus  the  amount  of  perform- 
ance remained  constant,  while  the  time  varied. 

Whipple^  points  out  that  "  The  use  of  an  electric  counter  such 
as  some  investigators  have  employed — gives  no  indication  of 
changes  in  speed  during  the  trial."  Also  that  the  electric  counter 
will  miss  a  quick  tap,  and  is  therefore  not  absolutely  reliable. 
In  the  present  case  no  attempt  was  made  to  register  anything 
except  the  gross  speed  of  performing  400  taps,  with  the  right 

1  G.  Stanley  Hall,  op.  cit.,  p.  142. 

2  Whipple,  Manual  of  Mental  and  Physical  Tests,  p.  106. 

15 


16  Functional  Periodicity 

hand.  The  apparatus  seemed  to  be  perfectly  satisfactory  for 
this  purpose,  and  failure  to  record  a  tap  was  never  observed. 

If  the  will  power  of  an  individual  were  remitted  during  an 
affected  period,  if  muscular  tonus  were  lowered,  or  the  general 
motor  ability  decreased,  this  test  would  be  expected  to  reveal 
the  condition.  Hollingworth^  found  it  to  be  sensitive  to  so  small 
an  influence  as  i  to  2  grains  of  caffein. 

The  complete  daily  records  of  the  seven  subjects  are  given  in 
Table  I,  and  require  no  comment. 

Table  II  gives  the  daily  records  converted  into  averages  of 
five-day  periods  each.  The  five-day  periods  are  determined  in 
the  case  of  the  women  by  counting  backward  and  forward  from 
physiological  periods.  Thus  a  few  "  blocks  "  are  formed  by  four 
or  six  days,  instead  of  five,  since  the  number  of  days  between 
periods  is  not  always  exactly  divisible  by  five.  In  the  case  of 
Mi  and  M2,  the  five-day  blocks  are  determined  by  beginning  to 
average  parallel  to  the  records  of  Fi  and  of  F4,  respectively. 
Thus  are  yielded  two  controls  composed  of  five-day  blocks 
arbitrarily  determined,  from  records  made  by  human  beings  not 
subject  to  the  phenomenon  in  question. 

Examining  the  contents  of  Table  II,  we  find  that  the  records 
marked  (*)  form  a  consistent  part  of  an  ordinary  practice  curve. 
They  show  no  tendency  to  rise  above  the  records  preceding,  and 
thus  to  cause  "  breaks  "  of  inefficiency  in  the  down-sweeping 
practice  curve.  The  record  made  by  Fi  on  January  12-16  is  an 
exception,  however,  this  being  53.1*  as  compared  with  50.9  and 
51.2  for  the  two  five-day  periods  preceding.  Fi  shows  no  such 
tendency  in  the  other  two  critical  periods  included  in  her  record, 
and  F2,  F3,  F4  and  F6  show  no  such  tendency  whatever.  The 
control  records  also  reveal  averages  which  revert  to  a  level  of 
efficiency  attained  ten  and  fifteen  days  previously. 

The  mean  variation  (M.  V.)  of  records  made  during  periods 
presumably  affected  shows  no  uniform  tendency.  It  may  be 
observed  in  passing  that  the  M.  V.'s  for  this  test  are  very  small, 
re'idering  the  figures  exceedingly  reliable. 

Table  III  gives  the  results  of  treating  the  figures  as  follows: 
The  records  are  averaged  in  fives  as  in  Table  II,  except  that 
only  three  groups  of  periods  are  considered,  i.  e.,  the  five  days 


8  H.  L.  Hollingworth,  op.  cit.,  p.  43. 


Motor  Tests  17 

preceding,  the  five  days  during,  and  the  five  days  following  the 
critical  period.  Also,  in  Table  III  the  women  are  treated  sepa- 
rately, and  the  control  records  are  averaged  in  periods  exactly 
corresponding  to  those  of  the  subject  under  special  consideration, 
which  was  not  done  in  Table  II.  The  averages  for  the  days 
before  and  after  are  then  averaged,  and  the  result  compared  with 
the  average  of  the  five  days  during,  to  see  if  the  latter  will  yield 
a  uniformly  poorer  or  better  average.  The  control  records  are 
treated  in  exactly  the  same  way.  In  this  manner  is  obtained  a 
standard  of  efficiency  by  which  to  measure  the  ability  of  the 
critical  period,  eliminating  the  factor  of  practice. 

This  method  of  averaging  preceding  and  following  periods  for 
purposes  of  comparison  with  a  middle  period  to  determine  rela- 
tive efficiency  assumes  a  uniform  or  nearly  uniform  rate  of 
improvement  in  the  practice  curve.  And  the  frequency  with 
which  the  average  of  the  periods  preceding  and  following  cor- 
responds exactly  or  nearly  to  that  of  the  middle  period  seems 
to  indicate  that  the  rate  of  improvement,  in  this  test  at  least, 
does  tend  to  be  uniform.  Thus  if  the  middle  period  were  sub- 
ject to  impaired  efficiency,  it  would  appear  that  averages  com- 
puted in  the  way  described  should  reveal  the  fact. 

Furthermore,  Table  III  shows  the  average  for  four  days  of 
each  critical  period,  excluding  the  first  day,  which  has  been 
said  to  be  subject  to  greater  impairment  than  the  other  days, 
and  the  record  of  the  first  day  is  given  separately. 

The  case  of  Fi  is  first  considered  in  Table  III.  On  the  first 
month  this  subject,  as  already  remarked,  made  a  poor  record  at 
the  critical  period,  the  figures  being  53.1*  as  compared  with  49.9, 
the  standard  of  efficiency  for  that  period.  On  the  other  two 
months  included,  the  averages  compared  are  found  to  be  identi- 
cal, indicating  no  influence  whatever. 

Scrutinizing  the  record  of  F2,  it  is  seen  that  the  averages  to 
be  compared  are  identical  for  three  out  of  the  four  months  in- 
cluded, indicating  no  influence  whatever.  On  the  second  month 
the  average  for  the  critical  period  is  38.5*  as  compared  with  39.4, 
the  standard  of  efficiency,  but  the  difference  is  within  the  M.  V., 
so  no  advantage  is  indicated  for  days  presumably  affected. 

The  records  of  F3,  F4  and  F6  confirm  the  records  of  the 
other  subjects.     No  influence  of  periodicity  is  indicated  by  the 


18  Functional  Periodicity 

average  of  performance.  The  very  slight  differences  between 
the  critical  periods  and  the  standards  of  efficiency  fall  in  all  cases 
well  within  the  M.  V.  It  must  be  said  that  these  observations 
reveal  no  inlluence  whatever  on  the  average  of  performance. 

Table  III  fails  to  demonstrate  greater  impairment  on  the  first 
day  of  menstruation.  In  fact  the  figures  suggest  an  increased 
briskness  of  performance  on  the  first  day  in  the  records  of  all 
the  women.  In  eleven  instances  out  of  the  fifteen  herein  ob- 
served, the  first  day's  record  exceeds  in  speed  the  average,  not 
only  of  the  five  days  in  which  it  is  included,  but  of  the  period 
follozinng.  The  amount  of  the  apparently  increased  briskness  is, 
however,  very  slight,  and  it  is  without  doubt  due  solely  to 
chance. 

F2  experienced  some  physical  pain  on  the  first  day  of  the 
first  two  periods,  and  none  on  the  last  two.  This  fact  seems  to 
have  made  no  difference  in  the  records. 

As  Hall  remarks,  "  This  process  is  always  very  rapidly  fa- 
tiguing." Although  no  attempt  w-as  made  to  measure  the  dif- 
ference in  time  between  the  first  200  and  the  last  200  taps,  it 
might  be  supposed  that  if  the  tendency  to  fatigue  were  consid- 
erably greater  during  an  affected  period,  the  total  time  of  per- 
formance would  be  measurably  increased  by  the  last  200  taps. 
This  does  not  appear. 

When  curves  are  platted  from  Tables  I  and  II,  and  are  ex- 
amined with  a  view  to  determining  whether  a  regularly  recur- 
ring period  of  maximum  efficiency  is  discernible  within  each 
month,  we  find  no  clear  result.  There  does  seem  to  be  in  this 
test  a  tendency  to  a  rhythm  of  efficiency,  but  this  tendency  is 
just  as  clearly  present  in  the  case  of  Mi  and  ]\l2  as  in  the  case 
of  Fi,  F2,  F3,  F4  and  F6,  and  on  the  basis  of  this  experiment 
is,  therefore,  not  attributable  to  the  phenomenon  of  menstrua- 
tion as  a  cause.  It  is  not  possible  to  say  on  the  basis  of  these 
experiments  whether  the  appearance  of  rhythm  is  accidental, 
especially  since  it  is  by  no  means  clearly  defined,  but  only  vaguely 
suggested.  The  period  of  maximum  efficiency  (speediest  per- 
formance) seems  to  fall  just  before  and  on  the  first  day  of  the 
period  in  the  case  of  the  women  subjects.  At  any  rate  the  figures 
do  not  support  the  statement  of  expert  opinion  that  fatiguability 
is  much  greater,  will  power  weaker,  and  motor  energy  dimin- 


Motor  Tei>ts  19 

ished  at  this  time.  It  will  be  well  to  point  out  in  this  connection 
that  in  any  curve  of  work  there  will  always  be  fluctuations 
which  are  of  a  more  or  less  accidental  nature,  and  which  are  not 
at  all  a  matter  of  a  fundamental  "  cycle  "  of  efficiency.  In  the 
very  nature  of  the  case,  regardless  of  concomitant  phenomena, 
there  will  be  high  points  and  low  points  on  the  curve,  within  each 
month  or  within  any  limits  of  time  we  may  wish  to  specify.* 

TABLE  I 

Daily  Record  of  the  Tapping  Test  (Part  I) 
Time  required  (in  seconds)  to  make  400  taps,  by  individuals  Ml,  Fl,  F2, 
F3,  M2,  F4  and  F6.     Menstrual  periods  are  denoted  by  stars  (*). 


Dec.  21.  1911- 

Sept.  29, 1912- 

April  19- 

Nov.  13,  1913- 

Date 

March  30,  ] 

L912 

Jan.  7,  1913 

June  12,  1913 

Feb.  5,  1914 

Day 

Ml 

Fl 

F2 

F3 

M2 

F4 

F6 

1 

46.6 

56.6 

48.8 

59.8 

54.5 

57.7 

77.5 

2 

42.2 

54.4 

45.8 

52.5 

49.0 

60.0 

63.1 

3 

45.0 

51.4 

45.2 

49.1 

50.6 

60.0 

63.3 

4 

47.6 

51.2 

47.0 

44.8 

55.3 

58.5 

56.8 

5 

47.0 

49.0 

44.6* 

57.0 

51.5 

59.0 

58.2 

6 

49.8 

48.6 

46.0* 

66.6 

50.0 

57.5 

58.8 

7 

47.5 

51.2 

46.8* 

55.6 

50.8 

57.3 

56.4 

8 

46.2 

51.6 

46.2* 

56.8 

55.5 

52.3 

57.0 

9 

44.6 

52.0 

45.6* 

55.0 

53.2 

56.5 

57.1 

10 

43.0 

51.0 

46.6 

56.0 

55.5 

54.5 

60.2 

11 

43.8 

50.0 

44.0 

49.4 

53.2 

52.5 

57.2 

12 

44.2 

51.0* 

45.2 

59.8 

56.1 

54.2 

abs. 

13 

42.4 

52.8* 

46.0 

50.2 

54.3 

54.1 

58.7 

14 

41.0 

56.8* 

42.8 

48.7 

54.0 

49.7 

56.5* 

15 

43.4 

54.8* 

45.6 

51.7 

53.5 

50.0 

55.4* 

16 

40.8 

50.0* 

46.0 

47.3 

52.0 

47.9 

59.3* 

17 

40.8 

50.4 

43.2 

52.0 

52.0 

47.7* 

59.6* 

18 

41.8 

46.4 

42.4 

50.1 

53.4 

48.4* 

57.6* 

19 

42.4 

50.0 

40.0 

45.6 

51.0 

47.5* 

59.2 

20 

42.0 

47.0 

abs. 

50.4 

55.2 

50.1* 

58.0 

21 

40.4 

49.0 

abs. 

45.7 

53.1 

49.5 

60.5 

22 

41.6 

49.8 

41.2 

46.0 

51.7 

51.5 

58.7 

23 

41.6 

49.2 

38.4 

45.0 

54.4 

49.8 

62.0 

24 

43.6 

48.2 

39.2 

41.7 

52.3 

46.8 

62.5 

25 

42.2 

48.4 

40.0 

40.6 

54.4 

45.2 

61.4 

26 

40.0 

48.6 

40.2 

39.9* 

53.7 

46.7 

59.2 

27 

41.6 

53.0 

39.0 

41.9* 

54.9 

45.7 

58.9 

28 

42.0 

47.8 

38.2 

42.0* 

51.7 

48.1 

56.6 

29 

41.8 

45.0 

40.0 

42.8* 

53.0 

48.0 

59.1 

30 

42.0 

44.8 

39.6 

41.5* 

50.0 

47.5 

59.2 

31 

40.0 

43.4 

39.2 

39.4 

47.9 

46.3 

58.3 

32 

40.2 

43.8 

37.4* 

39.9 

49.7 

46.1 

61.3 

33 

38.6 

43.4 

38.6* 

39.5 

.50.0 

46.8 

55.1 

34 

43.8 

45.0 

36.4* 

42.0 

49.0 

44.8 

60.1 

35 

40.0 

47.6 

40.8* 

41.9 

48.3 

44.4 

59.5 

*  E.  L.  Thorndike,  The  Curve  of  Work,  Psych.  Rev.,  May,   1912,  pp. 
168-169. 


20 


Functional  Periodicity 


TABLE  I— (Continued) 


Dec.  21.  1911- 

Sept.  29. 1912- 

April  19- 

Nov.  13.  1913 

Date 

March  30, 

1912 

Jan.  7.  1913 

June  12.  1913 

Feb.  5  .1914 

Day 

Ml 

Fl 

F2 

F3 

M2 

F4 

F6 

36 

40.4 

44.6 

39.2* 

44.7 

47.5 

44.7 

56.8 

37 

37.5 

44.6 

40.8 

39.1 

49.3 

46.8 

58.7 

38 

39.6 

44.8 

39.8 

39.8 

47.9 

45.2 

59.3 

39 

38.8 

43.4 

38.2 

43.2 

50.9 

47.4 

58.9 

40 

38.8 

42.6* 

42.0 

39.0 

50.2 

45.7 

58.9 

41 

39.2 

43.2* 

37.2 

39.5 

48.0 

48.1 

60.7 

42 

39.0 

47.4* 

38.0 

40.0 

48.8 

47.0 

54.9 

43 

40.6 

43.2* 

39.2 

40.6 

46.8 

46.9 

51.3 

44 

37.6 

44.4* 

37.0 

41.9 

46.0 

45.6* 

59.8 

45 

36.2 

42.4 

37.8 

46.0 

46.3 

45.2* 

49.7 

46 

39.8 

43.8 

36.6 

44.1 

47.3 

45.5* 

53.6 

47 

36.4 

42.6 

37.6 

42.2 

49.1 

46.5* 

abs. 

48 

39.0 

43.8 

39.4 

41.9 

49.7 

46.6* 

abs. 

49 

37.8 

43.8 

39.4 

40.5 

50.0 

46.4 

abs. 

50 

39.4 

43.0 

36.4 

43.7 

47.6 

45.2 

abs. 

51 

40.6 

44.2 

35.0 

40.3 

47.8 

47.0 

52.8 

52 

39.6 

44.4 

36.0 

38.1 

44.0 

44.5 

53.9 

53 

38.2 

46.0 

36.0 

38.5 

47.0 

46.5 

57.1 

54 

37.8 

41.8 

35.4 

37.1* 

43.4 

43.6 

55.5 

55 

41.0 

47.0 

35.0 

40.4* 

43.0 

44.2 

54.8 

56 

39.0 

45.4 

39.6 

41.0* 

55.0 

57 

38.4 

44.6 

37.0* 

44.3* 

54.3 

58 

38.8 

45.0 

37.6* 

40.0* 

54.2 

59 

36.2 

45.2 

36.8* 

38.8 

abs. 

60 

36.6 

44.2 

36.4* 

39.7 

56.3* 

61 

36.0 

44.8 

35.4* 

40.8 

54.8* 

62 

37.4 

43.2 

38.8 

36.8 

50.8* 

63 

38.8 

43.0 

36.6 

40.3 

54.5 

64 

39.1 

43.1 

35.9 

39.1 

54.1 

65 

37.9 

45.1 

36.6 

36.9 

55.2 

66 

40.2 

45.1 

37.0 

37.4 

53.8 

67 

36.5 

44.6 

36.4 

39.6 

57.2 

68 

39.5 

42.0 

37.2 

40.6 

53.5 

69 

40.0 

43.1 

37.7 

41.6 

55.7 

70 

40.8 

41.0 

36.8 

41.5 

56.7 

71 

41.0 

39.4 

37.3 

42.5 

52.1 

72 

39.2 

43.1 

35.5 

38.7 

53.1 

73 

39.5 

40.8* 

36.9 

39.9 

abs. 

74 

39.7 

42.0* 

36.1 

39.6 

54.8 

75 

38.4 

41.1* 

37.3 

40.9 

53.3 

76 

39.6 

41.3* 

36.1 

40.8 

52.7 

77 

38.7 

41.5* 

36.6 

38.6 

54.5 

78 

38.2 

39.2 

35.4 

42.4 

53.9 

79 

40.2 

40.8 

37.1 

38.5 

53.9 

80 

39.3 

42.4 

36.2 

42.3 

52.8* 

81 

38.7 

42.8 

37.8 

42.1 

55.3* 

82 

37.7 

39.7 

36.2 

41.2 

50.9* 

83 

38.0 

41.7 

36.6* 

41.3 

54.1* 

84 

36.3 

38.2 

36.2* 

38.6 

55.7* 

85 

38.9 

40.6 

37.3* 

39.7 

50.4 

86 

38.2 

37.9 

37.4* 

38.3 

Motor  Tests 


21 


TABLE  I— (Continued) 


Date 

Day 

87 
88 
89 
90 

91 

92 

93 

94 

95 

96 

97 

98 

99 

100 

101 


Dec.  21,  1911- 
March  30,  1912 


Ml         Fl 


F2 


36 
37 
36 
37 


Sept.  29, 1912- 
Jan.  7,  1913 

F3 

39.0* 
40.8* 
37.8* 
40.8* 

40.0* 

41.2 

38.6 

40.0 

38.8 

39.0 

41.0 

41.5 

37.4 

38.0 

41.8 


April  19- 
June  12,  1913 

M2       F4 


Nov.  13,  1913- 
Feb.  5,  1914 

F6 


22 


Functional  Periodicity 


K 
u 

^ 

u 

id 

If) 

rt 

Q 

r/l 

O 

V) 

o 

W 

H 

kJ 

.J 

CQ 

m 

< 

H 

w 

M 

HH         rt 


I— I         & 


o    ^ 


Co 


o      - 

OS 

o 
u 

PS 


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Motor  Tests  27 

The  Tapping  Test  (Part  II) 

In  order  to  obtain  a  further  and  slightly  different  measure  of 
voluntary  speed,  the  time  of  performance  for  the  first  300  taps 
in  the  experiment  on  fatiguability  was  computed  and  tabulated. 
(For  description  of  method  and  apparatus  see  chapter  on  Motor 
Fatiguability.)  Table  IV  gives  the  daily  records  for  the  three 
subjects  (F2,  F3,  Mi).  Table  V  gives  the  records  averaged  in 
five-day  "  blocks,"  as  in  Table  II  under  Part  I  of  this  test. 
Table  VI  shows  the  figures  computed  as  in  Table  III,  and  with 
the  same  purpose,  i.  e.,  to  compare  the  average  of  the  critical 
period  with  a  standard  of  efficiency;  to  examine  the  average 
performance  of  four  critical  days,  excluding  the  first;  and  to 
determine  whether  the  first  day  shows  a  remarkable  impairment. 

The  results  of  this  test  are  in  agreement  with  those  of  Part  1. 
In  Table  V  the  records  marked  (*)  form  part  of  an  ordinary 
practice  curve,  revealing  no  inefficiency.  Table  VI  shows  the 
critical  average  to  be  always  slightly  better  than  the  standard 
of  efficiency,  but  the  difference  falls  in  all  cases  within  the 
M.  v.,  so  no  genuine  advantage  for  critical  periods  is  indicated. 
Four  out  of  six  first  days  show  a  performance  superior  not  only 
to  the  average  in  which  they  are  included,  but  to  the  average 
following. 

The  conclusion,  therefore,  is  that  in  this  test  as  in  the  other, 
no  influence  whatever  on  the  average  of  performance  is  indicated 
for  critical  periods. 


28  Functional  Periodiciiy 

TABLE  IV 

The  Tapping  Test.    Part  II  (With  Key) 

Time  required  (in  seconds)  to  make  300  taps,  by  individuals  Ml,  F2  and 
F3.     The  menstrual  periods  are  denoted  by  stars  (*). 


Date 

Ml 

F2 

F3 

Date 

Ml 

F2 

F3 

Sept.  29 

40.4 

40.4 

64.0 

Nov.  19 

33.2 

39.2 

48.2 

30 

39.4 

39.2 

58.4 

20 

33.8 

41.0 

52.8 

21 

30.4 

38.4 

47.2" 

Oct.   1 

39.4 

38.2 

55.4 

22 

30.0 

41.4 

53.8- 

2 

39.2 

40.2 

54.0 

23 

34.0 

39.8 

58.0" 

3 

43.8 

48.2 

73.2 

24 

31.2 

41.2 

52.6" 

4 

40.2 

40.8 

58.4 

25 

33.6 

39.6 

50.0" 

5 

37.0 

38.2 

56.2 

26 

34.2 

40.2 

52.4 

6 

36.6 

43.6 

58.8 

27 

35.8 

39.6 

51.4 

7 

32.2 

38.2 

60.2 

28 

34.0 

34.0 

48.0 

8 

37.6 

36.4 

55.2 

29 

30.4 

37.8 

51.8 

9 

31.0 

40.0 

56.2 

30 

32.6 

42.6 

55.4 

10 

35.8 

33.6 

59.4 

11 

31.0 

35.0 

58.2 

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30.0 

40.0 

48.6 

12 

32.8 

36.0 

58.2 

2 

29.8 

41.4 

42.2 

13 

34.8 

36.8 

62.4 

3 

31.8 

37.8 

48.2 

14 

33.2 

33.2* 

63.2 

4 

30.8 

37.8 

53.2 

15 

31.6 

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63.4 

5 

31.2 

35.8 

50.4 

16 

33.2 

39.2* 

58.4 

6 

32.2 

35.4* 

47.8 

17 

33.8 

37.2* 

58.2 

7 

32.2 

36.6* 

52.2 

18 

30.6 

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59.6 

8 

31.6 

39.4* 

56.8 

19 

32.6 

39.2 

64.2 

9 

32.8 

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55.6 

20 

34.8 

41.4 

62.2 

10 

30.2 

35.6* 

56.6 

21 

32.8 

38.0 

62.8 

11 

29.6 

45.0 

45.2 

22 

33.8 

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60.6 

12 

31.2 

40.2 

49.6 

23 

31.8 

35.8 

62.8 

13 

38.4 

40.4 

61.6 

24 

33.6 

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14 

32.8 

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25 

33.4 

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15 

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62.4 

26 

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16 

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27 

36.6 

43.0 

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17 

31.6 

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28 

35.8 

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18 

34.6 

38.0 

53.0 

29 

33.0 

34.0 

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19 

29.4 

37.8 

49.2 

30 

30.8 

34.4 

54.8 

20 

30.6 

35.6 

56.6 

31 

32.2 

39.0 

65.0 

21 

33.8 

41.6 

51.6 

22 

33.8 

43.8 

51.4 

Nov.  1 

33.0 

38.6 

60.8 

23 

33.2 

37.2 

60.8 

2 

38.6 

36.2 

66.2 

24 

31.0 

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3 

33.8 

39.4 

73.2 

25 

32.6 

31.0 

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4 

34.6 

42.4 

51.2 

26 

34.2 

38.2 

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5 

33.4 

39.0 

48.4 

27 

28.6 

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32.6 

38.2 

50.6 

28 

29.0 

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33.2 

34.6 

52.4 

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32.2 

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54.2 

8 

31.0 

38.4 

49.4 

30 

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55.4 

9 

31.4 

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31 

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50.0 

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31.8 

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57.6 

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31.4 

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45.4 

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28.8 

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47.6 

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34.6 

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57.8 

15 

30.6 

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60.6 

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32.6 

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35.8 

38.6 

53.2 

6 

31.0 

37.0 

54.6 

17 

30.2 

39.6 

60.2 

7 

30.8 

35.8 

55.0 

18 

29.4 

38.2 

55.6 

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IV 

STEADINESS 

This  test  is  fully  discussed  in  Whipple's  "  Manual  of  Mental 
and  Physical  Tests."  It  was  carried  out  in  the  present  instance 
exactly  as  described  by  Hollingvvorth^  in  his  recent  monograph. 
The  subject,  standing,  was  required  to  hold  at  arm's  length  and 
unsupported,  a  brass  rod,  2.5  mm.  in  diameter,  in  a  hole  6  mm. 
in  diameter,  which  was  fomied  in  a  brass  plate.  The  time  in  this 
test  remained  constant,  the  subject  being  required  to  hold  the 
rod  for  30  seconds,  making  as  few  contacts  as  possible.  Each 
contact  was  registered  by  an  automatic  electric  counter.  A 
measure  of  the  involuntary  movements  of  the  right  arm  in  a 
horizontal  plane  was  thus  obtained.  Any  increase  in  nervousness 
would,  presumably,  be  apparent  in  the  number  of  involuntary 
contacts  registered. 

The  complete  daily  records  of  the  seven  subjects  are  found 
in  Table  VII.  In  the  case  of  F3  and  F6  the  fraction  (always 
.5)  was  retained  when  averaging  the  two  daily  records;  in  the 
case  of  the  other  subjects  it  was  dropped.  This  slight  difference 
in  treatment  was  simply  incidental  to  the  fact  that  the  records 
were  treated  on  different  occasions.  These  records  converted 
into  averages  as  described  in  this  paper  in  connection  with  the 
tapping  test,  are  given  in  Table  VIII.  The  variability  of  these 
averages  is  so  great  as  to  render  them  very  unreliable,  the  M.  V. 
being  in  a  majority  of  cases  above  20  per  cent,  and  often  reach- 
ing as  high  as  45  per  cent.  Hence  any  conclusions  drawn  from 
these  records  cannot  bear  great  weight.  The  test  is  very  apt  to 
be  affected  by  purely  external  and  accidental  factors,  such  as 
taking  a  breath,  coughing,  hearing  a  noise. 

According  to  expert  opinion,  as  already  quoted  in  this  paper, 
we  should  expect  to  find  greatly  increased  agitation  at  the  critical 
periods  in  the  case  of  the  women  subjects.  An  examination  of 
the  figures  as  they  stand  does  not  support  this  opinion. 

1  H.  L.  Hollingworth,  op.  cit.,  p.  44. 

32 


Steadiness 


33 


A  table  similar  to  Table  III  under  the  tapping  test  was  not 
compiled  for  steadiness,  partly  because  the  great  variability  of 
the  averages  would  make  such  a  table  of  little  value,  and  partly 
because,  owing  to  circumstances  connected  with  starting  the 
test,  the  records  are  somewhat  irregular  at  the  beginning.  (See 
Table  VH.) 

When  curves  are  platted  from  Tables  VH  and  VIII,  and  are 
examined  to  determine  whether  a  cycle  of  efficiency  is  discerni- 
ble, it  appears  that  there  is  no  definite  suggestion  of  such  a 
cycle.  It  is  true  that  in  a  practice  curve  of  this  kind  there  must 
always  be  fluctuations  which  are  of  a  more  or  less  accidental 
nature,  and  w-hich  are  not  at  all  a  matter  of  a  fundamental 
"  cycle  "  of  efficiency.  In  the  very  nature  of  the  case,  regardless 
of  concomitant  phenomena,  there  will  be  high  and  low  points 
on  the  curve,  within  each  month  or  within  any  limits  of  time 
we  may  wish  to  specify. 

The  pain  suffered  by  F2  for  a  few  hours  on  the  first  two  first 
days  seems  to  have  had  no  characteristic  effect. 

On  the  whole  the  only  statement  that  may  be  made  wath  cer- 
tainty on  the  basis  of  the  steadiness  test  is,  that  it  does  not  indi- 
cate increased  agitation  at  menstrual  periods, 

TABLE  VII 
Daily  Record  of  the  Steadiness  Test 
Number  of  involuntary  contacts  made  in  30  seconds  by  individuals  Ml, 
Fl.  F2,  F3,  M2,  F4  and  F6.     The  menstrual  periods  are  denoted  by  stars  (*). 


Date 
Day 
1 
2 
3 
4 
5 
6 
7 
8 
9 
10 

11 
12 
13 
14 
15 
16 
17 
18 
19 
20 


Dec.  21.  1911- 
March  30,  1912 


Ml        Fl 


40 
30 
21 
18 
19 
21 


25 
20 
24 
15 
14 
20 
48 
17 
13 
25 


24* 
28* 
43* 

30* 

17* 

13 

44 

18 

19 

22 

32 

38 

40 


F2 
19* 
23* 
10* 
12* 
14* 
8 
23 
19 
42 
10 

9 

7 
16 
25 
21 

Abs. 
Abs. 
11 
25 
14 


Sept.  29,  1912- 
Jan.  7,  1913 

F3 
44.5 
43.5 
32.5 
40.0 
26.5 
16.0 
20.0 
26.0 
11.5 
18.5 

18.5 
14.0 
10.0 
14.0 
12.0 
15.5 
19.0 

8.5 

9.0 
15.0 


April  19- 
June  12,  1913 

M2         F4 


6 
10 
12 
20 
12 

9 
16 
17 
15 
20 

7 

13 

9 

12 

11 

9 

2 

5 

8 

5 


22 
19 
20 
17 

24 
30 
35 
20 
15 
15 

12 
8 
5 
6 

15 

11 

17* 
6* 
4* 
3* 


Nov.  13,  1913- 
Feb.  5  ,1914 

F6 

37.0 
38.0 
44.5 
48.5 
64.5 
58.5 
63.5 
52.0 
57.0 
60.0 

54.5 

Abs. 

55.5 

55.0* 

63.5* 

54.0* 

55.5* 

55.0* 

53.0 

61.0 


34 


Functional  Periodicity 
TABLE  VII— (Continued) 


Dec.  21.  1911- 

Sept.  29,  1912- 

April  19- 

Nov.  13,  1913 

Date 

March  30. 

1912 

Jan.  7,  1913     June  12. 

1913 

Feb.  5.  1914 

Day 

Ml 

Fl 

F2 

F3           ] 

M2 

F4 

F6 

21 

14 

23 

22 

9.5 

9    ] 

0 

61.0 

22 

13 

40 

23 

8.0 

2 

5 

60.0 

23 

12 

49 

26 

10.5 

5 

1 

44.0 

24 

18 

31 

13 

14.0 

3    10 

58.5 

25 

24 

54 

15 

11.0 

7 

6 

53.5 

26 

14 

41 

20 

4.5* 

4 

5 

65.5 

27 

16 

32 

11 

7.5* 

4 

7 

57.5 

28 

15 

40 

8* 

7.0* 

4 

5 

50.0 

29 

12 

40 

11* 

10  0*       10 

1 

57.0 

30 

8 

25 

17* 

7.0* 

3 

9 

63.5 

31 

13 

25 

17* 

10.5 

2 

5 

56.0 

32 

21 

35 

18* 

8.5 

3 

4 

53.5 

33 

12 

39 

15 

6.5 

8 

7 

57.0 

34 

3 

15 

32 

9.5 

8 

6 

55.5 

35 

16 

32 

23 

4.5 

5 

5 

54.5 

36 

11 

25* 

11 

10.0        10    14 

60.0 

37 

10 

21* 

27 

11.0 

9 

3 

52. S 

38 

11 

34* 

14 

10.5 

6 

6 

54.0 

39 

9 

39* 

21 

9.5 

7 

7 

61.0 

40 

8 

38* 

34 

16.5 

8 

2 

54.0 

41 

18 

40 

19 

9.0        11 

9 

50.5 

42 

10 

16 

25 

8.0 

3 

5 

58.0 

43 

3 

15 

12 

11.0 

5 

2 

55.5 

44 

11 

39 

18 

16.5 

4 

4* 

55.0 

45 

15 

33 

26 

7.0 

5 

1* 

60.0 

46 

15 

15 

26 

13.0 

4 

4* 

65.0 

47 

9 

17 

15 

4.0 

7 

4* 

Abs. 

48 

3 

21 

20 

12.5 

5 

2* 

Abs. 

49 

6 

25 

12 

5.0 

4 

7 

Abs. 

50 

12 

19 

25 

11.0 

5 

1 

Abs. 

51 

6 

17 

19 

6.0 

3 

3 

55. S 

52 

8 

28 

18 

20.0 

7 

2 

65.0 

53 

2 

17 

14* 

7.0 

3 

2 

65.0 

54 

3 

24 

10* 

5.0* 

3 

2 

64.5 

55 

10 

31 

10* 

5.0* 

6 

5 

55.5 

56 

7 

25 

15* 

7.0* 

58.0 

57 

7 

30 

20* 

5.0* 

55.5 

58 

2 

30 

18 

7.5* 

61.0 

59 

8 

11 

13 

9.5 

Abs. 

60 

11 

27 

17 

6.0 

55.5* 

61 

12 

30 

10 

7.0 

61.5* 

62 

4 

27 

18 

7.0 

51.5* 

63 

9 

19 

17 

7.0 

58.5 

64 

3 

18 

8 

11.0 

56.0 

65 

10 

19 

12 

5.5 

57.5 

66 

11 

21 

10 

7.5 

53.5 

67 

3 

14 

20 

7.0 

55.5 

68 

6 

8 

12 

11.5 

54.0 

69 

9 

20* 

14 

4.5 

61.5 

70 

8 

21* 

11 

11.5 

51.0 

71 

9 

21* 

12 

6.0 

58.5 

72 

5 

20* 

10 

10.5 

59.0 

73 

7 

16* 

18 

5.5 

Abs. 

Steadiness 

3! 

TABLE  VII— (Continued) 

Dec.  : 

21.  1911-                   Sent.  29. 1912-             April  19-               Nov.  13.  1913- 

Date 

March  30,  1912                    Jan.  7,  1913           June  12,  1913             Feb.  5,  1914 

Day       Ml      Fl        F2                  F3                    M2       F4                   F6 

74 

7        15          11                      9.0 

56.0 

75 

7       13         10                     3.0 

61.5 

76 

9 

8           12                         7.5 

51.0 

77 

3       21         16                    7.5 

60.0 

78 

8       10         16                    9.0 

61 . 5 

79 

7       13           9*                 12.0 

57.5 

80 

3 

9          4*                  6.0 

55.0* 

81 

4 

7           8*                  6.5 

55.5* 

82 

8       12         11*                  6.0 

51.5* 

83 

9 

5           8*                 12.5 

59.5* 

84 

8 

4         13                   12.5 

53.0* 

85 

7       23         10                    8.0 

51.0 

86 

1       28          4                    9.5 

87 

8.0* 

88 

9.5* 

89 

14.5* 

90 

7.5* 

91 

4.5* 

92 

8.0 

93 

9.5 

94 

7.5 

95 

9.5 

96 

10.0 

97 

12.0 

98 

9.0 

99 

7.0 

100 

7.5 

101 

11.5 

36 


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6-  10 
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V 
MOTOR  FATIGUABILITY 

It  was  desired  to  obtain  a  measure  of  fatiguability  in  order 
to  gain  further  evidence  regarding  motor  efficiency  at  critical 
periods.  It  has  been  seen  that  the  average  of  performance  in 
the  case  of  voluntary  speed  of  movement  is  unaffected  by  men- 
struation, when  the  amount  of  work  done  is  400  taps  with  the 
stylus.  This  would  lead  us  to  suspect  that  fatiguability  is  not 
greater  for  critical  periods.  For  if  fatiguability  were  greater 
then,  there  would  undoubtedly  be  a  measurable  decrease  in  speed 
on  the  last  200  taps,  and  this  would  lower  the  total  speed  of 
performance  at  critical  periods.  However,  this  inference  cannot 
be  regarded  as  precise  evidence,  because  (i)  the  amount  of 
work  done  (400  taps)  may  not  have  been  sufficient  to  produce 
a  great  enough  fatigue;  (2)  the  use  of  the  stylus  may  have 
offered  too  much  freedom  of  movement,  so  that  the  work  could 
be  shifted  from  one  set  of  muscles  to  another  during  the  trial. 
In  fact  the  latter  objection  was  at  once  seen  to  be  valid  in  pre- 
liminary trials  wdth  the  stylus,  for  very  often  the  last  300  taps 
would  be  more  rapidly  executed  than  the  first  300,  owing  to  a 
shift  at  that  point  from  one  set  of  muscles  to  another. 

The  method  finally  adopted  for  obtaining  a  measure  of  fatigu- 
ability was  as  follov^'s.  A  telegraph  key  \^as  attached  to  the 
apparatus  described  under  the  tapping  test,  and  each  subject 
tapped  with  the  first  two  fingers  of  the  right  hand  on  this  key, 
resting  the  elbow,  meanwhile,  on  the  table.  The  electric  counter 
was  concealed  from  the  subject  by  a  screen,  so  that  it  could 
not  be  seen  when  each  hundred  taps  was  completed.  No  sub- 
ject knew  how  many  hundred  taps  would  be  required  at  any 
trial ;  thus  the  possible  influence  of  the  alleged  "  end  spurt "  was 
avoided.  The  time  for  each  hundred  taps  w^as  taken  with  a 
stop  watch,  the  observer  holding  a  stop  watch  in  each  hand,  and 
starting  one  as  she  stopped  the  other.  In  computing  the  records 
the  first  600  taps  are  used.    The  percentage  of  fatigue  is  deter- 

38 


Motor  Fatiguahility  39 

mined  by  finding  the  ratio  of  the  last  300  to  the  first  300  taps, 
thus: 

A  sample  record  as  taken  with  the  stop  watch  runs  like  this : 
ii.o,  1 1.6,  1 1.6,  12.4,  12.6,  13.6.  The  sum  of  the  first  300  taps 
is  34.2  (seconds)  ;  that  of  the  last  300  taps  is  38.6  (seconds). 
Thus  an  absolute  fatigue  of  4.4  seconds  is  noted,  i.  e.,  the  sub- 
ject took  4.4  seconds  longer  to  complete  the  last  300  taps  than 
to  complete  the  first  300  taps.  Now,  dividing  38.6  by  34.2  we 
get  the  index  of  fatigue,  i.  e.,  ||^  =  1.128  (index  of  fatigue), 
or  12.8  per  cent  of  fatigue.  The  purpose  of  the  experiment  is 
to  determine  whether  the  index  of  fatigue  is  higher,  or  in  any 
way  affected,  at  critical  periods.  If  the  index  is  found  to  be 
consistently  higher  it  follows  that  fatiguahility  is  greater. 

Table  IX  gives  the  index  of  fatigue  for  each  daily  trial.  Table 
X  shows  the  average  index  of  fatigue  in  five-day  periods,  count- 
ing backward  and  forward  from  each  critical  period.  It  is  seen 
that  the  average  of  fatigue  for  critical  periods  does  not  differ 
consistently  from  that  of  other  periods.  For  F3  the  index  is 
in  all  cases  high  at  critical  periods,  but  not  higher  than  that  often 
yielded  by  this  subject  at  other  times,  and  by  the  control  subjects. 
F2,  on  the  other  hand,  shows  a  low  index  of  fatigue  at  critical 
periods,  as  compared  with  her  index  at  other  times. 

When  curves  are  platted  from  Table  IX  and  Table  X,  it  is 
suggested  that  there  may  be  a  rhythm  which  includes  longer 
cadences  than  the  month,  and  is  not  concomitant  with  menstrua- 
tion, since  the  curves  all  tend  to  follow  it,  and  the  critical  periods 
of  F3  occur  on  its  high  places,  while  those  of  F2  occur  where 
it  runs  low.  As  remarked,  the  rhythm  is  merely  suggested,  not 
clearly  defined  and  may  well  be  due  entirely  to  chance.  It  will  be 
desirable  to  take  records  of  several  more  periods,  and  if  possible 
on  several  more  subjects,  before  stating  any  conclusion  regarding 
fatiguahility.  In  the  case  of  F3  the  curves  may  well  be  inter- 
preted to  mean  greater  fatiguahility  at  critical  periods  ;  in  the  case 
of  F2  the  interpretation  may  well  be  exactly  reversed.  No  final 
conclusion  will  be  stated  with  regard  to  the  matter  in  this  mono- 
graph. 

A  table  like  Table  III  under  the  tapping  test  was  not  compiled 
for  fatiguahility,  because  there  is  no  practice  here.  The  standard 
remains  the  same  throughout  the  course  of  the  experiment 
(i.ooo),  and  does  not  vary  as  in  a  practice  curve. 


40  Functional  Periodicity 

TABLE  IX 

Index  of  Motor  Fatiguability 

Ratio  of  last  300  taps  to  first  300  taps  (time  in  seconds),  for  individuals 

Ml,  F2  and  F3.  Menstrual  periods  are  denoted  by  stars  (*). 

Date  Ml  F2  F3  Date  Ml  F2  F3 

Sept.  29  1.060  1.135  .950  Nov.    19  1.213  .964  1.140 

30  .954  1.096  1.030  20  .947  1.005  .930 

21  1.033  1.137  1.235* 
Oct.       1  1.087  1.037  .890  22  1.190  1.023  .990* 

2  1.020  .980  1.198  23  1.030  1.050  .980* 

3  1.120  1.160  1.070  24  1.295  1.022  1.088* 

4  .966  1.050  .990  25  1.158  1.302  1.012* 

5  1.087  1.116  1.028  26  1.074  1.178  .962 

6  1.113  .982  1.040  27  1.005  1.043  .988 

7  .970  1.210  1.000  28  .860  1.163  1.005 

8  .975  1.078  1.070  29  1.068  1.116  1.023 

9  1.102  .914  1.053  30  .975  1.093  .962 

10  1.058  1.030  .982 

11  1.133  1.057  1.025  Dec.   1  1.204  1.178  1.054 

12  1.130  1.122  .988  2  1.154  .945  1.083 

13  1.007  .956  .978  3  1.128  .932  .990 

14  .995  1.100*  .956  4  1.079  1.082  .955 

15  1.070  1.190*  .984  5  1.122  1.200  1.050 

16  .976  .960*  1.058  6  .976  1.048*  .992 

17  1.174  .970*  .930  7  1.160  1.040*  .958 

18  1.115  .982*  1.005  8  .970  1.070*  .985 

19  1.007  1.124  1.000  9  1.000  1.074*  1.005 

20  1.110  1.145  .985  10  1.012  1.190*  .930 

21  1.068  1.147  .975  11  1.108  1.000  1.130 

22  1.040  1.134  1.030  12  1.077  1.128  1.053 

23  1.190  1.032  .975  13  1.038  .990  .990 

24  1.095  1.118  1.030*  14  1.080  1.174  .951 

25  .995  1.220  1.066*  15  1.000  1.028  1.005 

26  1.080  .970  .982*  16  1.113  1.200  1.076 

27  1.033  1.010  .972*  17  1.080  1.275  1.070 

28  1.043  1.152  1.070*  18  1.000  1.105  1.022 

29  1.055  1.083  1.130  19  1.135  1.190  1.134 

30  1.028  1.108  1.050  20  1.005  1.173  1.080 

31  1.080  .980  .935  21  1.005  1.122  1.060 

22  .854  1.000  1.211 
Nov   1  1.170  1.068  .975  23  .995  1.051  1.082 

2  1.078  1.198  .940  24  1.032  1.080  1.241* 

3  1.255  1.005  .920  25  .983  1.208  1.034* 

4  .960  1.053  1.028  26  1.035  .995  1.110* 

5  1.030  1.097  1.090  27  1.161  1.062  1.003* 

6  1.005  1.073  1.030  28  1.118  1.090  1.073* 

7  1.149  1.092  1.005  29  1.138  1.090  1.064 

8  1.020  .988  .955  30  1.020  1.128*  1.030 

9  1.116  1.013  1.050  31  .947  .917*  1.034 

10  1.075  .900*  1.015 

11  .995  .910*  .910  Jan.   1  1.046  1.134*  1.086 

12  .943  1.000*  .935  2  1.159  1.031*  1.038 

13  1.030  1.106*  .865  3  1.193  1.000*  1.088 

14  1.131  1.081*  1.140  4  .964  1.048  .843 

15  1.117  .990  .935  5  1.080  .975  .855 

16  1.098  1.106  .990  6  1.050  1.090  1.090 

17  1.147  1.130  .870  7  1.050  .960  1.020 

18  1.308  1.065  1.103 


Motor  Fatiguahility 


41 


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VI 

MENTAL  TESTS 
SPEED  AND  ACCURACY  OF  PERCEPTION 

The  Color  Naming  Test 

The  color  naming  test  was  conducted  as  follows :  The  card 
designed  by  W'oodworth  and  W'ells^  was  placed  face  downward 
at  each  trial,  before  the  subject.  At  a  signal  from  the  operator 
the  subject  turned  the  card  over,  and  began  naming  the  colors 
as  rapidly  as  possible  from  left  to  right.  No  errors  were  al- 
lowed. If  the  subject  made  a  mistake  the  operator,  who  held 
an  identical  card,  quickly  said  "  No,"  and  the  subject  corrected 
the  error  before  proceeding.  Thus  mistakes  and  confusions  were 
accounted  for  in  the  time  consumed  by  them.  The  time  of  per- 
formance was  taken  by  the  operator  with  a  stop  watch  to  the 
fifth  of  a  second.  The  same  order  of  the  colors  was  used 
throughout  after  the  first  month,  in  the  case  of  Mi,  Fi  and  F2, 
since  it  was  thought  that  some  orders  always  yielded  poorer 
records.  In  the  case  of  all  the  other  subjects  the  four  orders 
of  the  colors  were  used  in  rotation,  from  trial  to  trial,  through- 
out the  experiment.    The  illumination  was  the  same  for  all  trials. 

This  test  has  been  used  by  various  investigators.  Holling- 
worth^  found  that  it  was  sensitive  to  so  small  an  influence  as 
I  to  2  grains  of  cafifein  alkaloid.  To  quote  from  this  author,  the 
test  "  is  designed  to  measure  the  speed  with  which  the  name  or 
idea  can  be  brought  to  consciousness  upon  the  sight  of  the  object, 
which  is  in  this  case  a  color.  ...  As  the  experiment  progresses 
it  affords  a  measure  of  the  individual's  ability  to  improve  by 
practice,  his  degree  of  interference  as  shown  by  the  tendency 
of  a  preceding  idea  to  inhibit  or  interfere  with  the  correct  per- 
ception and  expression  of  the  next  stimulus." 

Table  XI  gives  the  complete  daily  records  of  all  seven  subjects 

1  Woodworth   and  Wells,   Association   Tests,  Psych.  Mon.,  No.  57. 

2  H.  L.  Holling\vorth,  op.  cit.,  p.  16. 

42 


Mental  Tests  43 

and  requires  no  comment.  Table  XII  gives  the  result  of  convert- 
ing these  records  into  averages  of  five-day  periods  each,  as 
described  for  Table  II  under  the  tapping  test. 

In  Table  XII  it  is  seen  that  the  averages  marked  (*)  form  a 
consistent  part  of  an  ordinary'  practice  curve.  They  show  no 
uniform  tendency  to  rise  above  records  preceding  them,  and  thus 
to  indicate  inefficient  performance.  It  will  be  noted,  particu- 
larly after  the  first  great  drop  in  practice,  that  even.'  average 
does  not  improve  over  the  average  preceding  it.  This  is  just 
as  true  for  control  records  as  for  records  marked  (*),  and  is  a 
familiar  feature  of  practice  curves  without  regard  to  sex.^ 

Table  XII  shows  that  out  of  the  fifteen  critical  averages  herein 
noted,  nine  are  slightly  better  than,  four  are  slightly  worse  than, 
and  two  are  the  same  as  the  average  preceding.  This  is  about 
what  would  be  found  in  the  case  of  any  twelve  averages  taken 
at  random  in  the  table. 

The  mean  variability-  of  records  made  during  critical  periods 
is  neither  uniformly  greater  nor  uniformly  less  than  that  of 
other  records.  The  M.  A'.'s  in  the  color  naming  test  are  greater 
than  in  the  tapping  test,  but  they  are  small  enough  to  demonstrate 
the  reliability  of  the  figures. 

Table  XIII  was  compiled  in  the  same  way  as  Table  III  in  the 
tapping  test.  The  purpose  of  Table  XIII  was  the  same  as  that 
of  Table  III,  i.  e..  to  compare  the  average  of  the  critical  period 
with  a  standard  of  efficiency  C which  is  the  average  of  the  aver- 
ages of  periods  immediately  before  and  after  if)  ;  to  examine 
the  average  performance  of  four  critical  days,  excluding  the 
first ;  and  to  determine  whether  the  first  day  shows  a  remarkable 
impairment. 

Fi  is  first  considered  in  this  table.  The  critical  period  is  once 
worse  than  the  standard  ('33.8*-3i.6').  and  twice  slightly  better 
than  the  standard  (36.7*-38.2,  and  27.5*-28.i,  respectively). 

In  the  case  of  F2  the  critical  average  is  twice  slightly  worse 
than  the  standard  of  efficiency  ('4i.9*-40.7.  and  28.6*-28.i,  re- 
spectively), the  difference  being  both  times  within  the  M.  V., 
and  twice  slightly  better  than  the  standard  (44.4*-44.9,  and 
34.3*-34.7,  respectively),  this  difference  also  being  well  within 
the  M.  V. 

In  the  case  of  F3  the  critical  average  is  once  the  same  as, 

'  E.  L.  Thorndike,  op.  cit.,  p.  168-169. 


44  Functional  Periodicity 

once  slightly  worse  than,  and  once  slightly  better  than  the  stand- 
ard of  efficiency  (40.3*-40.4,  37.i*-36.6,  and  33.2*-34.i,  re- 
spectively), these  differences  all  being  within  the  M.  V. 

F4  shows  both  critical  averages  included  in  her  record  slightly 
worse  than  the  standard,  the  difference  being  well  within  the 
M.  V.  (43.7*-43.2,  and  40.8*-40.2,  respectively)  ;  and  F6  shows 
practically  no  deviation  in  either  direction  from  the  standard  of 
efficiency  at  critical  periods. 

It  must  be  concluded  that  this  experiment  shows  no  real  in- 
fluence, either  adverse  or  favorable,  on  the  average  of  perform- 
ance for  critical  periods.  An  examination  of  the  control  records 
will  give  the  same  result  that  is  yielded  by  the  critical  records. 

Table  XIII  demonstrates  that  first  days  of  critical  periods 
bear  about  the  same  relation  to  the  averages  in  which  they  are 
included  and  to  the  averages  preceding  as  is  to  be  found  in  the 
case  of  the  pseudo-first  days  of  the  control. 

When  curves  are  platted  from  Tables  XI  and  XII,  the  men- 
strual periods  do  not  rise  in  "  blocks  "  of  inefficient  performance. 
In  only  one  case  out  of  twelve  is  the  critical  "  block  "  high  be- 
tween the  "  blocks  "  preceding  and  following,  i.  e.,  the  second 
period  in  the  case  of  Fi.  This  one  instance  is  typical  of  what 
we  should  expect  to  find  in  all  cases,  or  at  least  in  a  great  ma- 
jority of  cases,  if  there  w^ere  marked  impairment  during  men- 
strual periods. 

On  the  whole,  the  performances  of  Fi,  F2,  F3,  F4  and  F6 
follow  the  uninterrupted  course  of  the  familiar  practice  curve. 
They  are  distinguished  from  the  performances  of  Mi  and  M2 
by  no  peculiarities. 

It  may  be  objected  that  this  test  after  scores  of  repetitions 
became  automatic,  and  that  the  processes  of  perception,  inhibi- 
tion, association,  etc.,  were  no  longer  truly  measured ;  or  even, 
since  the  same  order  of  the  colors  was  used  in  some  cases,  that 
these  subjects  must  have  memorized  the  colors  in  order.  There- 
fore five  trials  were  made  with  each  subject  after  the  experiment 
was  entirely  finished,  as  follows.  The  names  of  the  colors  were 
typewritten  on  a  piece  of  white  paper  from  left  to  right,  so  that 
reading  them  would  involve  the  same  number  of  eye  movements 
as  the  naming  had  previously  involved.  The  subject  was  then 
required  to  read  the  colors  in  the  same  way  as  he  or  she  had 


Menial  Tests 


45 


previously  named  them.  This  performance,  though  by  no  means 
purely  automatic,  was  undoubtedly  much  more  nearly  so  than 
the  naining  of  the  colors.  The  time  in  seconds  of  each  of  the 
six  individuals  for  this  test  is  given  below.  The  records  show 
how  far  the  color  naming  was  from  being  a  memory  feat  or  a 
purely  automatic  performance,  even  after  a  hundred  and  twenty- 
seven  trials  and  more. 


Reading  Colors 


Trial 

Ml 

Fl 

F2 

F3 

M2 

F4 

F6 

1 

24.0  sec. 

20.8  sec. 

19.0  sec. 

29.0  sec. 

27.0  sec. 

29.0  sec. 

25.4  sec. 

2 

24.6    " 

20.4    " 

20.0    " 

27.4    " 

26.5    " 

26.4    " 

26.2    " 

3 

23.0    " 

23.2    " 

19.0    " 

28.2    " 

26.8    " 

25.4    " 

25.4    " 

4 

21.8    " 

19.6    " 

20.4    " 

29.4    " 

26.8    " 

25.4    " 

24.8    " 

5 

21.8    " 

20.8    " 

19.0    " 

28.2    " 

26.4    " 

25.6    " 

24.0    " 

TABLE  XI 

Daily  Record  of  the  Color  Naming  Test 

Time  required  (in  seconds)  to  name  100  colors,  by  individuals  Ml,  Fl,  F2, 
F3,  M2,  F4  and  F6.     The  menstrual  periods  are  denoted  by  stars  (*). 


Dec. 

21.  1911- 

- 

Sept.  29. 1912- 

April  19- 

Nov.  13,  1913- 

Date 

March  30,  1912 

Jan.  7,  1913 

June  12 

,  1913 

Feb.  5  ,1914 

Day 

Ml 

Fl 

F2 

F3 

M2 

F4 

F6 

1 

40.2 

57.8 

45.0 

47.7 

57.3 

47.5 

72.0 

2 

45.6 

40.8 

45.6 

48.2 

51.9 

47.4 

75.3 

3 

39.0 

44.8 

46.6 

47.8 

51.0 

47.9 

64.2 

4 

37.4 

39.8 

46.0 

47.1 

51.6 

45.7 

60.8 

5 

39.6 

41.0 

46.6* 

49.4 

51.0 

46.0 

62.3 

6 

41.0 

42.0 

47.2* 

46.7 

51.6 

45.9 

62.5 

7 

42.4 

42.4 

47.6* 

49.7 

48.5 

46.0 

55.3 

8 

43.0 

41.6 

47.8* 

46.6 

47.4 

48.8 

62.4 

9 

43.2 

41.6 

46.4* 

46.7 

51.0 

45.3 

59.6 

10 

36.6 

38.2 

42.2 

46.6 

52.2 

45.6 

57.0 

11 

37.2 

39.8 

42.6 

44.5 

50.9 

45.8 

58.2 

12 

37.8 

41.6* 

43.0 

45.0 

54.0 

42.9 

Abs. 

13 

42.0 

37.0* 

43.0 

46.1 

49.7 

42.8 

57.3 

14 

35.0 

36.6* 

43.8 

47.3 

51.7 

42.8 

56.6* 

15 

40.6 

40.2* 

43.4 

41.7 

49.0 

43.5 

55.9* 

16 

37.2 

34.6* 

42.0 

45.7 

45.5 

41.3 

54.4* 

17 

41.6 

39.0 

44.0 

44.7 

46.0 

45.5* 

57.8* 

18 

38.8 

34.6 

44.0 

43.7 

49.4 

42.1* 

.54.3* 

19 

40.8 

35.0 

46.4 

44.8 

42.7 

43.2* 

52.1 

20 

34.2 

37.2 

43.2 

41.7 

52.9 

44.0* 

53.1 

21 

44.0 

38.6 

47.2 

39.9 

45.9 

45.4 

54.1 

22 

41.6 

37.2 

44.6 

43.9 

48.6 

42.9 

53.4 

23 

40.8 

42.0 

Abs. 

42.0 

45.1 

44.3 

54.0 

24 

34.0 

.34.2 

Abs. 

41.0 

45.1 

42.5 

52.8 

25 

37.6 

38.6 

44.2 

39.4 

47.7 

41.9 

52.0 

26 

35.2 

35.6 

42.2 

41.3* 

47.2 

41.9 

54.0 

46 


Functional  Periodicity 


TABLE  XI— (Continued) 


Dec. 

21.  1911- 

Sept.  29, 1912- 

April  19- 

Nov.  13,  1913 

Date 

March  30,  1912 

Jan.  7,  1913           J 

une 

12,  1913 

Feb.  5,  1914 

Day 

Ml 

Fl 

F2 

F3 

M2        F4 

F6 

27 

32.0 

34.8 

41.2 

38.8*         46.6       41.5               56.0 

28 

36.0 

36.6 

41.6 

43.2*        48.1 

44.0              50.6 

29 

32.2 

39.0 

41.2 

40.0*         47.1 

43.5               51.2 

30 

35.0 

39.4 

45.4 

38.1*         42.4      41.4               55.5 

31 

34.6 

36.8 

43.0 

39.6          40.9      41.6              54.9 

32 

35.0 

36.0 

42.2* 

41.0          48.5      41.5              55.4 

33 

33.6 

34.6 

40.0* 

40.5           42.3       41.5               53.9 

34 

34.4 

36.0 

39.4* 

39.6          42.3       41.5               56.5 

35 

35.0 

31.8 

39.8* 

38.0           44.9       39.5               56.5 

36 

33.0 

32.6 

43.4* 

41.7           43.4       39.6              51.0 

37 

34.6 

31.8 

38.8 

39.0          44.7       39.7              50.2 

38 

40.2 

37.0 

42.2 

39.5          40.3      39.2              52.0 

39 

34.2 

31.4 

45.4 

38.5          44.] 

I       40.8               53.4 

40 

34.6 

29.2* 

40.0 

39.4          46.9      41.3              52.4 

41 

34.4 

31.8* 

40.4 

39.3          46.5      41.4              49.7 

42 

37.6 

32.6* 

36.4 

35.8           45.0      43.8              51.0 

43 

36.8 

34.0* 

41.8 

36.4          43.1 

[       38.7              52.6 

44 

34.4 

34.0* 

38.4 

39.1           45.4       40.2*             51.6 

45 

36.0 

35.6 

39.0 

39.5           43.9       40.2*             53.3 

46 

33.0 

31.4 

36.4 

38.8          42.3      42.9*            48.8 

47 

31.6 

34.2 

41.0 

37.9          43.8      40.5*            Abs. 

48 

36.2 

31.0 

38.8 

40.9           42.8       40.1 

*            Abs. 

49 

33.0 

32.8 

39.0 

40.3           41.2       39.4               Abs. 

50 

32.0 

30.4 

37.4 

36.8          46.6      38.7              Abs. 

51 

39.0 

31.4 

37.2 

38.3          40.8      39.2              50.3 

52 

36.4 

28.0 

34.4 

36.5          39.9      36.9              49.3 

53 

29.0 

36.8 

33.6 

36.5          39.9      41.8              52.6 

54 

39.2 

29.6 

39.2 

33.9*        39.0      36. 

I              50.6 

55 

33.4 

31.4 

35.2 

39.9*        45.8      37.8              49.3 

56 

32.0 

30.4 

36.2 

37.3* 

53.5 

57 

38.0 

33.4 

35.8* 

36.1* 

51.1 

58 

31.6 

35.0 

35.6* 

38.2* 

53.7 

59 

36.8 

34.6 

41.0* 

36.9 

Abs. 

60 

32.8 

32.8 

32.8* 

37.0 

52.1* 

61 

35.2 

28.8 

31.4* 

37.1 

50.3* 

62 

39.2 

34.2 

33.0 

35.7 

51.7* 

63 

38.4 

28.8 

33.4 

33.6 

48.7 

64 

33.6 

31.4 

34.6 

35.3 

51.8 

65 

31.8 

31.4 

33.6 

38.3 

50.5 

66 

30.7 

30.5 

33.2 

37.5 

49.8 

67 

32.7 

31.6 

32.2 

31.7 

49.7 

68 

34.8 

32.2 

31.6 

33.9 

53.2 

69 

34.1 

31.3 

31.9 

33.1 

50.6 

70 

34.4 

30.2 

31.7 

37.1 

48.8 

71 

37.9 

29.7 

29.7 

39.7 

49.1 

72 

30.9 

28.9 

30.8 

35.9 

50.0 

73 

33.1 

30.6* 

30.3 

36.1 

Abs. 

74 

32.9 

27.6* 

30.0 

37.6 

48.3 

75 

32.3 

38.7* 

30.4 

34.0 

46.3 

76 

28.6 

27.3* 

28.0 

35.2 

49.7 

77 

32.4 

27.0* 

28.4 

33.8 

49.3 

Mental  Tests 

47 

TABLE  XI— (Continued) 

Dec.  21,  1911- 

Sept.  29. 1912- 

April  19- 

Nov.  13.  1913- 

Date 

March  30, 

1912 

Jan.  7.  1913 

June  12,  1913 

Feb.  5.  1914 

Day 

Ml 

I         Fl 

F2 

F3 

M2          F4 

F6 

78         28. 

?      27. 

2      30.5 

34.4 

51.0 

79        27. 

a      27. 

5      28.4 

35.2 

46.8 

80        27. 

7       28. 

2       29.6 

36.0 

52.3* 

81        30. 

5       29. 

2       29.0 

34.0 

49.4* 

82         29. 

3       25. 

7       26.7 

32.8 

49.2* 

83         27. < 

?       26. 

5       29.2* 

32.2 

47.7* 

84        30.8       25. 

3       28.7* 

34.0 

48.3* 

85         29.3       27.. 

5       28.8* 

39.7 

47.7 

86        26. 

1       27. 

I       25.6* 

35.4 

87         29.6       29.' 

1       30.0* 

32.1* 

88         29.4       28.6       29.8 

35.5* 

89        29.9      29.5      28.9 

31.7* 

90        26.7      24.8      29.9 

33.4* 

91        28.3      26.7      26.9 

33.5* 

92        23.6      25.6      26.4 

31.7 

93 

35.5 

94 

33.7 

95 

32.5 

96 

33.1 

97 

34.3 

98 

30.7 

99 

33.5 

100 

33.7 

101 

36.2 

48 


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VII 


CONTROLLED   ASSOCIATION 


The  Opposites  Test 

A  clear  discussion  of  this  test  and  a  list  of  the  investigations 
carried  on  by  means  of  it  will  be  found  in  Whipple's  "  Manual 
of  Mental  and  Physical  Tests."  For  the  present  purpose  a  list 
of  fifty  words  was  used,  as  follows : 


attractive 

loud 

dangerous 

drunk 

aristocratic 

helpless 

idle 

rash 

sacred 

broad 

prompt 

savage 

graceful 

coarse 

noisy 

foreign 

defective 

vague 

ancient 

innocent 

cowardly 

public 

masculine 

hostile 

gentle 

peculiar 

wise 

ripe 

fickle 

gay 

harmonious 

shallow 

slovenly 

timid 

soothing 

beautiful 

cloudy- 

talkative 

sickly 

stormy 

fertile 

tragic 

doubtful 

lazy 

sharp 

brief 

expensive 

stale 

victorious 

past 

These  words  were  typewritten  on  a  card  in  two  vertical 
columns.  This  card  was  laid  face  downward  before  the  subject 
at  each  trial,  and  at  a  given  signal  from  the  operator  the  subject 
turned  it  over  and  went  through  the  list  as  rapidly  as  possible, 
naming  the  opposite  to  each  word  in  order.  The  opposites  only 
Avere  uttered,  the  words  on  the  card  not  being  pronounced. 
The  time  was  taken  by  the  operator  with  a  stop  watch  to  the 
fifth  of  a  second.  As  in  the  color  naming  test,  no  errors  were 
allowed.  The  words  were  arranged  in  20  chance  orders,  and 
thus  the  order  was  never  the  same  for  successive  trials.  F2 
was  already  well  down  on  her  practice  curve  at  the  beginning 
of  this  test,  having  previously  gone  over  this  list  of  opposites 
a  great  many  times  as  operator. 

This  is  a  test  of  controlled  association  processes.  Holling- 
worth^  says  of  it,  "  The  opposites  test  is  a  much  used  one  in 
experimental  and  educational  psychology,  and  has  been  found 

^  H.  L.  Hollingworth,  op.  cit.,  p.  18. 
54 


Controlled  Association  55 

to  correlate  to  a  fairly  high  degree  with  other  tests  designed  to 
measure  mental  ability.  .  .  .  This  test  indicates  the  ability 
of  the  individual  to  select  the  appropriate  response  from  the 
host  of  ideas  which  follow  in  the  wake  of  a  stimulus  word.  It 
is  an  index  of  speed,  accuracy,  linguistic  feeling,  and  of  ability 
to  repress  useless  or  irrelevant  ideas.  .  .  .  It  is  a  test  of 
association  processes,  but  of  association  processes  of  a  consid- 
erably more  complex  kind  than  those  involved  in  the  color 
naming  test." 

Woodworth  and  Wells-  take  the  association  test  to  be  "A 
measure  of  mental  alertness,"  and  "  of  efficient  mental  control." 
It  may  also  be  added  here  that  these  investigators  found  the 
opposites  test  to  be  the  best  representative  of  controlled  associa- 
tion tests, 

Stern^  also  gives  figures  to  show  the  high  degree  of  correla- 
tion between  the  opposites  test  and  other  tests  for  efficiency. 
Since  it  correlates  closely  with  other  mental  tests,  the  inference 
is  fair  that  it  should  yield  a  representative  measure  of  general 
mental  efficiency  at  a  given  period. 

The  complete  daily  records  of  the  seven  subjects  are  given 
in  Table  XIV.  The  records  converted  into  averages  as  under 
the  tapping  test  (Table  II)  are  given  in  Table  XV. 

Examining  the  contents  of  Table  XV,  we  find  that  the  records 
marked  (*)  form  a  consistent  part  of  an  ordinary  practice 
curve.  They  show  no  uniform  tendency  to  rise  above  the 
records  preceding,  and  thus  to  indicate  characteristic  lapses 
from  efficiency.  It  is  to  be  noted,  particularly  after  the  first 
great  drop  in  practice,  that  here,  as  in  the  other  tests,  every 
average  does  not  improve  over  the  average  preceding  it.  This 
is  just  as  true  for  control  records  as  for  records  marked  (*), 
and  is  indeed  a  well  recognized  feature  of  practice  curves*  with- 
out regard  to  sex. 

To  summarize  the  results  of  Table  XV  briefly  and  specifically, 
out  of  the  fifteen  critical  averages  herein  recorded,  eight  are 
slightly  better  than,  four  are  slightly  worse  than,  and  three  are 
the  same  as  the  record  preceding.     This  is  about  what  would 

2  Woodworth  and  Wells.  of>.  cit.,  p.  5,  59. 

3  Stern,  Die  Uiffcrentielle  Psychologic,  1911,  p.  488. 
*  E.  L.  Thorndike,  op.  cit.,  pp.  168-169. 


56  Ftinctiotial  Periodicity 

be  found  in  the  case  of  any  twelve  averages  taken  at  random 
from  the  table. 

The  mean  variability  of  records  made  during  critical  periods 
reveals  no  uniform  tendency.  The  M.  V.'s  for  the  opposites 
test  are  greater  than  those  for  the  tapping  test ;  yet  they  are 
low  enough  to  demonstrate  that  the  figures  are  (juite  reliable. 

Table  XVI  was  compiled  in  the  same  way  as  Table  III, 
described  under  the  tapping  test.  The  purpose  of  Table  XVI, 
as  of  Table  III  in  the  tapping  test,  is  to  compare  the  average 
performance  of  the  critical  period  with  a  standard  of  efficiency 
(which  is  the  average  of  the  averages  of  periods  immediately 
before  and  after)  ;  to  examine  into  the  average  performance 
of  four  critical  days,  excluding  the  first ;  and  to  determine 
whether  the  first  day  shows  a  remarkable  degree  of  impairment. 

Fi  is  first  considered  in  this  table.  On  the  first  month,  while 
the  records  were  more  variable  than  later,  owing  to  the  great 
amount  of  practice,  the  record  of  Fi  for  the  critical  period 
is  38.9'''  as  compared  with  37.0,  the  standard  of  efficiency  for  that 
particular  period.  The  difference  is,  however,  within  the  M.  V. 
On  the  remaining  two  months  the  records  of  the  critical  periods 
equal  the  standards  (30.i*-29.8,  and  2y.2*-2y.Q,  respectively). 

In  the  case  of  F2  the  first  two  periods  do  not  measure  up 
to  their  standards  (3i.2*-29.8,  and  27.7*-26.3,  respectively).  The 
difference  between  the  first  of  these,  however,  is  within  the 
M.  V.  On  the  remaining  two  months  the  records  of  the  critical 
periods  equal  the  standards  (24.5*-24.3,  and  23.9*-23.7,  re- 
spectively). 

In  the  case  of  F3  the  critical  period  is  twice  the  same  as 
the  standard  (32.7*-32.8,  and  29.8*-29.8,  respectively),  and  once 
slightly  worse  than  the  standard  (39-9*-39-3),  the  difference 
being  within  the  M.  V. 

The  record  of  F4  shows  the  critical  period  to  be  twice  slightly 
worse  than  the  standard  (33.7*-32.9,  and  25.2*-24.5,  respec- 
tively), the  difference  being  both  times  within  the  M.  V. 

The  record  of  F6  shows  the  critical  period  to  be  slightly  better 
than  the  standard  in  one  of  the  two  cases  where  the  record  for 
the  whole  month  was  completed  (54.8*-56.o),  and  in  the  other 
instance  to  be  slightly  worse  than  the  standard  (39.5"'-38.6), 
these  dififerences  being  well  within  the  M.  V. 


Controlled  Association  57 

It  must  be  concluded  that  this  experiment  discovers  no  real 
influence,  either  adverse  or  favorable,  on  the  average  of  per- 
formance for  critical  periods.  An  examination  of  the  control 
records  will  show  the  same  result  that  the  critical  records  yield. 

Turning  now  to  the  first  days,  it  is  seen  in  the  case  of  Fi  that 
all  records  for  first  days  are  very  slightly  worse  than  the  aver- 
ages in  which  they  are  included,  as  well  as  slightly  worse  than 
the  averages  that  precede  them.  The  first  two  months  for  F2 
show  first  days  considerably  worse  than  the  averages  in  which 
they  are  included,  and  worse  than  the  averages  preceding  them. 
On  the  last  two  critical  periods  for  F2  the  first  days  equal  the 
averages  in  which  they  are  included.  The  record  of  F3  shows 
one  first  day  worse  than  the  record  in  which  it  is  included,  one 
the  same  as  the  record  in  which  it  is  included,  and  one  slightly 
better  than  the  record  in  which  it  is  included.  F4  shows  one 
first  day  worse  and  one  first  day  better  than  the  average  in 
which  it  is  included.  F6  shows  one  first  day  better  and  two  first 
days  worse  than  the  averages  in  which  they  are  respectively 
included. 

This  general  result  would  seem  to  indicate  a  degree  of  im- 
pairment on  first  days  in  the  opposites  test,  nine  first  days  out 
of  the  fifteen  herein  recorded  being  worse  than  the  averages  in 
which  they  are  respectively  included,  as  well  as  worse  than 
the  average  which  precedes.  But  a  scrutiny  of  control  records 
shows  the  same  "  worseness  "  on  pseudo-first  days,  as  witness 
for  example  the  record  of  Mi  (control  for  F2)  on  the  fourth 
month,  or  the  record  of  F2  (control  for  Fi)  on  the  first  month. 
This  fact,  combined  with  the  smallness  of  the  differences,  ren- 
ders the  conclusion  very  doubtful  that  there  is  genuine  impair- 
ment on  first  days.  The  only  degree  of  "  worseness  "  which  is 
noticeable  is  in  the  case  of  the  first  two  first  days  for  F2,  and 
it  must  be  remembered  that  on  these  days  F2  suffered  pain  for 
a  short  time.  It  seems  not  at  all  improbable  that  the  opposites 
test  was  adversely  affected  by  this  suffering,  especially  since 
F2  shows  no  impairment  whatever  on  the  two  remaining  first 
days,  when  no  pain  was  experienced. 

When  curves  are  platted  from  Tables  XIV  and  XV,  the 
menstrual  periods  are  not  characterized  by  inefficiency.  The 
curves  follow  the  downward  direction  of  the  ordinary  practice 
curve,  as  they  did  in  the  case  of  the  color  naming.     No  period 


58 


Functional  Periodicity 


of  maximum  efficiency  recurring  regularly  in  each  month  and 
no  "  cycle  "  are  revealed,  even  after  the  curves  have  attained 
a  fair  practice  level.  On  the  whole,  the  performances  of  Fi, 
F2,  F3,  F4  and  F6  follow  the  same  course  as  those  of  Mi  and 
M2,  and  are  distinguished  from  the  latter  by  no  peculiarities. 
As  in  the  case  of  the  color  naming,  it  may  be  objected  that 
this  test,  after  many  repetitions,  became  automatic,  and  that 
the  processes  of  association,  inhibition,  etc.,  were  no  longer  truly 
measured,  although  the  varying  order  of  the  words  did  pre- 
clude the  possibility  of  pure  memory  work.  Therefore  five  trials 
were  made  with  each  subject  when  the  experiment  was  entirely 
finished,  as  follows.  The  opposites  to  the  words  on  the  card 
were  typewritten  in  exactly  the  same  way  as  the  words  them- 
selves, in  two  vertical  columns.  The  subject  then  read  the 
opposites,  turning  the  card  over,  and  performing  exactly  as  he 
or  she  had  done  previously.  The  records  for  these  trials  are 
given  below.  They  show  how  far  the  process  was  from  being 
automatic,  even  after  more  than  a  hundred  and  twenty-five  trials. 
The  subjects  could  articulate  the  opposites  when  placed  before 
them,  about  twice  as  rapidly  as  they  could  call  them  up  by 
association  and  articulate  them. 


Reading  Opposites 


Trial 

Ml 

Fl 

F2 

F3 

M2 

F4 

F6 

1 

13.8 
13.2 
14.0 
13.2 
14.0 

13.8 
13.8 
13.8 
13.2 
13.6 

15.6 
14.8 
14.0 
15.0 
12.4 

16.0 
17.0 
16.8 
16.0 
16.8 

13.8 
14.2 
13.0 
12.8 
13.8 

14.4 
13.0 
12.4 
13.0 
12.8 

15.2 

2 

14.6 

3 

14.0 

4 

13.6 

5 

14.2 

Controlled  Association 


59 


TABLE  XIV 
Daily  Record  of  the  Opposites  Test 
Time  required  (in  seconds)  to  give  50  opposites,  by  individuals  Ml,  Fl, 
F2,  F3,  AI2,  F4  and  F6.     The  menstrual  periods  are  denoted  by  stars  (*). 


Dec.  21,  1911- 

Sept.  29,  1912- 

April  19- 

Nov.  13,  1913- 

Date 

March  30,  1912 

Jan.  7,  1913 

June  ] 

12,  1913 

Feb.  5  ,1914 

Day 

Ml 

Fl 

F2 

F3 

M2 

F4 

F6 

1 

48.4 

73.8 

35.4 

60.6 

92.0 

81.7 

131.6 

2 

42.2 

62.8 

33.0 

53.5 

64.0 

64.7 

78.7 

3 

45.0 

67.0 

32.2 

54.1 

63.4 

55.3 

83.2 

4 

51.4 

63.2 

30.6 

65.6 

64.0 

53.3 

73.6 

5 

45.6 

52.0 

33.8* 

51.1 

55.9 

50.0 

62.4 

6 

43.2 

51.6 

32.0* 

60.2 

62.1 

46.0 

80.1 

7 

39.0 

47.2 

31.4* 

54.6 

57.7 

42.9 

62.8 

8 

42.2 

40.0 

36.2* 

62.4 

62.0 

40.0 

63.6 

9 

46.0 

38.0 

33.0* 

48.8 

53.2 

41.7 

63.0 

10 

39.0 

41.0 

30.6 

50.3 

59.0 

38.1 

59.6 

11 

39.4 

39.4 

28.8 

49.8 

51.3 

41.6 

60.4 

12 

39.6 

37.8* 

27.2 

51.4 

56.6 

37.6 

Abs. 

13 

41.8 

39.2* 

28.6 

50.9 

49.7 

37.8 

56.6 

14 

42.0 

39.6* 

29.4 

48.4 

53.4 

33.2 

57.8* 

15 

33.4 

40.0* 

29.6 

46.0 

48.5 

31.5 

53.2* 

16 

39.6 

41.8* 

25.6 

44.6 

48.2 

35.4 

57.5* 

17 

39.0 

35.4 

26.6 

46.6 

50.0 

35.0* 

52.1* 

18 

32.4 

39.0 

31.8 

48.2 

50.5 

32.7* 

53.4* 

19 

35.6 

38.6 

24.0 

42.1 

44.1 

33.4* 

57.5 

20 

36.0 

33.0 

29.6 

42.4 

50.1 

33.5* 

57.2 

21 

35.0 

39.0 

31.0 

43.6 

53.8 

33.7 

48.5 

22 

39.0 

32.2 

26.6 

38.1 

45.6 

31.7 

47.7 

23 

34.0 

37.0 

Abs. 

43.4 

41.0 

30.4 

49.5 

24 

31.8 

32.0 

Abs. 

44.7 

44.0 

29.5 

49.1 

25 

34.0 

40.0 

26.2 

38.9 

43.5 

27.7 

47.9 

26 

38.0 

32.0 

28.0 

43.4* 

42.0 

29.3 

46.1 

27 

30.2 

32.8 

28.0 

38.9* 

39.3 

27.1 

50.0 

28 

37.0 

37.4 

30.4 

39.0* 

45.2 

28.4 

47.4 

29 

30.8 

33.6 

29.4 

40.0* 

45.8 

26.0 

48.1 

30 

37.0 

31.6 

27.4 

38.1* 

36.0 

27.2 

46.8 

31 

30.8 

36.0 

26.4 

37.4 

39.3 

26.0 

49.2 

32 

26.6 

31.0 

26.6* 

34.7 

39.2 

28.0 

48.0 

33 

35.0 

34.2 

27.0* 

38.6 

38.0 

27.2 

47.0 

34 

41.4 

34.4 

27.4* 

37.9 

39.3 

27.2 

48.1 

35 

37.6 

31.0 

30.4* 

36.0 

37.5 

26.9 

45.9 

36 

35.2 

32.0 

27.4* 

34.6 

45.7 

26.0 

45.8 

37 

33.8 

30.2 

27.0 

34.7 

45.7 

25.9 

44.5 

38 

32.8 

32.4 

26.4 

32.1 

36.0 

27.2 

45.6 

39 

33.2 

31.0 

27.2 

37.5 

42.0 

26.0 

44.8 

40 

32.4 

31.8* 

25.8 

33.4 

45.2 

25.5 

44.7 

41 

30.6 

29.0* 

27.0 

31.8 

42.7 

25.4 

40.6 

42 

29.0 

28.4* 

24.4 

36.0 

41.2 

23.6 

42.9 

43 

30.8 

32.0* 

26.0 

31.6 

38.9 

26.2 

38.5 

44 

30.0 

30.4* 

24.6 

34.6 

35.3 

24.5* 

40.2 

45 

33.4 

30.2 

28.4 

33.2 

36.7 

25.6* 

42.8 

46 

34.2 

31.4 

26.4 

32.2 

33.0 

23.8* 

40.4 

47 

32.4 

26.4 

27.4 

30.1 

39.7 

27.2* 

Abs. 

48 

31.2 

29.4 

27.6 

30.3 

38.6 

24.7* 

Abs, 

49 

28.0 

30.2 

23.8 

33.3 

29.7 

23.8 

Abs. 

50 

31.4 

30.2 

27.0 

34.8 

35.2 

24.8 

Abs. 

60 


Functional  Periodicity 


TABLE  XIV— (Continued) 


Date 
Day 
51 
52 
53 
54 
55 
56 
57 
58 
59 
60 

61 
62 
63 
64 
65 
66 
67 
68 
69 
70 

71 
72 
73 
74 
75 
76 
77 
78 
79 
80 

81 
82 
83 
84 
85 
86 
87 
88 
89 
90 

91 
92 
93 
94 
95 
96 
97 
98 
99 
100 
101 


Dec.  21.  1911- 
March  30,  1912 


Ml 
35.4 
37.6 
35.4 
31.6 
31.6 
31.0 
30.2 
29.8 
37.8 
28.6 

26.6 
29.8 
27.4 
29.2 
28.8 
30.6 
30.2 
31.2 
28.9 
31.8 

32.3 
30.8 
34.0 
31.9 
28.2 
28.3 
29.7 
32.7 
28.3 
28.3 

29.3 
29.9 
32.5 
29.0 
33.5 
32.4 
35.7 
29.7 
31.8 
29.4 


Fl 
31.6 
29.2 
30.8 
30.8 
30.0 
25.2 
30.0 
28.2 
30.8 
27.8 

27.8 
32.8 
29.6 
31.8 
29.0 
26.8 
29.7 
26.1 
29.0 
29.6 

27.4 

27.5 

30.6* 

27.9* 

24.0* 

27.8* 

26.1* 

25.5 

30.1 

26.6 

25.2 
26.6 
29.0 
25.3 
26.5 
26.9 
26.7 
25.9 
25.3 
24.0 


29.3  23.4 

30.4  24.9 
29.2     25.8 


F2 
23.4 
27.0 
25.2 
24.4 
24.6 
22.4 
27.6* 
22.0* 
22.8* 
24.0* 

24.2* 

19.6 

27.0 

28.0 

23.0 

24.0 

25.3 

22.4 

28.5 

24.4 

23.4 
24.0 
27.0 
23.5 
21.4 
23.0 
23.7 
22.6 
26.3 
24.7 

22.5 

24.0 

26.2* 

23.0* 

23.7* 

23.6* 

24.3* 

25.0 

22.8 

24.1 

23.1 
23.1 
24.0 


Sept.  29.  1912- 
Jan.  7,  1913 

F3 
33.8 
29.4 
30.9 
32.6* 
31.4* 
36.7* 
31.2* 
31.6* 
33.4 
32.8 

34.4 
33.6 
32.2 
32.6 
31.1 
31.8 
34.4 
29.5 
31.9 
30.7 

29.9 
29.6 
34.7 
33.3 
30.9 
33.6 
31.6 
29.5 
28.0 
30.2 

32.3 

31.0 

26.9 

27.2 

30.7 

30.4 

29.5* 

31.4* 

30.1* 

29.7* 

28.1* 

26.5 

32.3 

32.9 

29.0 

32.0 

31.1 

31.1 

26.3 

29.4 

28.6 


April  19- 
June  12,  1913 


M2 
33.3 

36.1 
31.7 
32.9 
36.2 


F4 
22.4 
23.2 
24.0 
20.3 
21.5 


Nov.  13,  1913 
Feb.  5.  1914 

F6 
43.3 

40.4 
43.1 
39.4 
44.6 
41.5 
41.0 
41.0 
Abs. 
39.0* 

39.1* 

40.6* 

36.0 

36.9 

36.1 

39.4 

36.2 

37.9 

34.3 

34.4 

36.8 
36.8 
Abs. 
34.4 
32.9 
36.6 
37.5 
31.9 
33.8 
35.4* 

33.3* 
33.8* 
34.7* 
35.0* 
34.3 


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VIII 
LEARNING 

Typewriting 

As  a  test  of  ability  to  Icatvi  during  physiological  periods  type- 
writing was  chosen,  for  three  reasons:  it  combines  all  of  the 
simple  processes  already  tested  here ;  it  affords  a  task  easy 
to  standardize;  subjects  will  consent  to  spend  time  and  effort 
on  it,  because  they  are  learning  something  of  benefit  to  them- 
selves, whereas  they  excuse  themselves  from  learning  nonsense 
syllables,  multiplying,  etc.  Three  subjects  took  part  in  the  type- 
writing experiment, — F2,  F3  and  F5.  F2  was  already  some- 
what proficient ;  F3  was  familiar  with  the  mechanism  of  the 
typewriter,  but  had  used  it  only  a  few  times  previous  to  the 
beginning  of  this  experiment ;  F5  was  also  familiar  with  the 
mechanism,  but  had  just  begun  to  operate  the  machine.  F5 
learned  by  the  touch  method.  F2  and  F3  learned  by  the  sight 
method. 

The  task  was  to  write  each  day  at  approximately  the  same 
hour,  for  28  days,  a  page  from  Oscar  Wilde's  "  De  Profundis." 
This  book  was  chosen  for  the  purely  incidental  reason  that  it 
happened  to  be  at  hand  in  a  cheap  edition  which  could  easily 
be  torn  apart.  About  the  same  number  of  words  was  printed 
on  each  page.  The  subject  recorded  the  time  of  each  perform- 
ance to  the  half  minute.  The  number  of  corrected  and  of 
uncorrected  errors  was  counted  afterwards. 

Table  XVII  gives  the  record  of  each  subject  in  full.  Figures 
I,  2  and  3  show  these  records  graphically.  No  rise  in  the  time 
required  is  noted  at  menstrual  periods.  The  process  of  learn- 
ing goes  forward  unarrested  in  so  far  as  these  records  indicate. 


66 


Learning 


67 


TABLE  XVII 

Learning:  Typewriting 

Time  required  (in  minutes)  to  write  one  page  of  "De  Profundis,"  together 
with  corrected  and  uncorrected  errors,  for  individuals  F2,  F3  and  F5.  The 
menstrual  periods  are  denoted  by  stars  (*). 


Trial 

1 

2 

3 

4 

4 

6 

7 

8 

9 
10 
11 
12 
13 
14 
15 
16 
17 
18 
19 
20 
21 
22 
23 
24 
25 
26 
27 
28 


F2 
Time       C.  Uc. 

Errors   Errors 


6.0 

6.5 

6.0 

5.5 

5.5 

5.5 

5.0 

5.0 

5.5 

5.5" 

5.0" 

5.0"' 

5.0'' 

5.0" 

5.0 

4.5 

4.5 

5.0 

5.0 

4.5 

6.0 

5.0 

5.0 

5.0 

5.0 

6.0 

5.0 

4.5 


F3 
Time       C. 
Errors 


15.5 

14.0 

13.0 

11.0 

10.0 

13.0 

10.0 

10.0 

10.0 

12.0 

9.5 

9.0" 

9.0" 

9.0" 

9.0" 

8.5" 

9.0 

10.5 

8.0 

10.0 

9.0 

8.0 

8.0 

8.0 

7.0 

8.0 

6.0 

6.0 


Uc. 
Errorc 
3 
6 
3 
4 
3 
1 
5 
4 
6 
5 
3 

3* 
3* 
4* 

6* 

6* 

5 

6 

7 

3 

6 

6 

3 

7 

6 

6 

7 

5 


Time 

13.0 
11.0 
10.5 
12.0 
11.0 
10.0 
10.5 
10.5 

9.0 
11.0 

9.0* 

9.0* 

8.5* 

8.0* 

8.0* 

9.0* 

8.0 

7.5 

7.0 

7.0 

7.5 

7.0 

7.0 

7.0 

8.0 

7.5 

7.0 

7.0 


F5 
C. 

Errors 
4 
2 
7 


5 

7 

6 

3 
10 

4" 

1" 

6" 

1" 

6" 

6" 

6 

3 

4 

6 

7 

2 

4 

9 

8 
10 

5 

1 


Uc. 
Errors 
1 
1 
0 
2 
0 
1 
1 
1 
0 
1 

1* 
2* 
1* 
0* 
0* 
1* 
1 
0 
0 

1 

3 
2 
0 
0 
1 
0 
2 
1 


f    /a   II  /J.  /J  /♦■  yj- /«  /7  II  /f  ju  jti  Jx  a  a*  jr  **  2.?  if 


Figure  i. — Subject  F2.    Typewriting. 


68 


Functional  Periodicity 


Q^Y   I    i    3   y   >"  t    7   t   t  /»  /I  It-  f»  '*  'y  /*  n  /s  /9  i»  It  tt.  21  IV  t.i- zjb  xi  z» 


"■y 


Figure  2. — Subject  F3.     Typewriting. 


IS- 


0*J     I   'Z    3    Y   ■>'  6     7    t    ■J  /"  ^^  IX  'i   I*-  /y  /t  O  //  19  JL»  ii  2JL  a  i^  int  X7  i$ 

Figure  3. — Subject  F5.     Typewriting. 

Figures   i,  2  and  3.     Explanatory   notes. 

Curves  A  =  corrected   errors. 

Curves  B  =1  uncorrected   errors. 

Curves  C  =  time  of  performance  (in  minutes). 


IX 

CURVES  OF  PHYSIOLOGICAL  PROCESSES  COM- 
PARED WITH  CURVES  OF  MENTAL  AND 
MOTOR  PERFORMANCE 

In  1882  Stephenson^  published  a  number  of  curves  platted 
from  Jacobi's  figures,  which  he  analyzed  according  to  a  method 
fully  set  forth  in  his  article  on  the  subject.  Jacobi's  records 
comprised  observations  on  temperature,  pulse  and  the  excre- 
tion of  urea.    These  curves  are  reproduced  in  Figure  4,  page  78. 

The  line  O  represents  the  course  which  would  have  been  fol- 
lowed by  the  functions  measured  if  they  had  not  fluctuated,  but 
had  maintained  the  average  straight  across  the  month.  When 
the  curve  dips  below  the  line  O,  the  function  measured  falls 
lower  than  the  average;  when  the  curve  rises  above,  the  func- 
tion is  above  the  average.  The  curves  begin  on  the  first  day  of 
the  menstrual  period.  Of  the  two  curves  platted  along  the 
same  average  the  solid  line  represents  temperature  and  the 
broken  line  pulse. 

The  curves  indicate  in  a  fairly  uniform  way  a  fluctuation 
within  each  month,  and  both  Jacobi  and  Stephenson  connect 
this  fluctuation  with  menstruation  as  a  cause,  or  at  least  as  a 
closely  related  and  coincident  phenomenon.  The  chief  criticism 
on  these  data  is  that  no  control  records  were  taken  on  men 
of  the  same  age  and  same  general  condition  in  life,  to  determine 
whether  this  fluctuation  in  vital  functioning  is  peculiar  to  women. 

In  a  general  way  these  curves  by  Stephenson  agree  with  Van 
Ott's  curve,  Figure  12.     Van  Ott^  also  found  that  the  highest 

1  Stephenson.  On  the  Menstrual  Wave,  Am.  Jour.  Ohstet.,  1882,  vol.  15. 

2  Van  Ott,  Des  Lois  de  la  Periodicite  da  la  Fonction  Physiologique 
dans  I'Organisme  Feminin,  Nouv.  Arch.  Obstet.,  1890. 

"  Outre  rccherches  sur  la  temperature,  le  pouls,  la  pression  sanguine 
Cspygmanometre  de  F>asch)  nous  avons  entrepris  des  nouvelles  recherches 
sur  la  chalcur  rayonnant.  la  force  musculairc,  la  capacite  pulmonaire,  la 
force  d'inspiration  et  d'expiration,  sur  I'etat  du  systeme  nerveux,  en  nous 
bassant  sur  le  temps  de  reaction  des  reflexes  tendineux."     .      .      . 

"  I.  Rayonnement  Calorique. — Les  experiences  ont  porte  sur  4  femmes 

69 


70  Functional  Periodicity 

point  for  physiological  functions  was  reached  just  before  men- 
struation. A  quotation  from  his  address  dehvered  before  the 
International  Congress  in  Berlin  in  1890  follows: 

"In  addition  to  researches  on  temperature,  pulse,  blood  pressure  (Basch 
spygmanometer),  we  undertook  to  make  pioneer  experiments  on  caloric 
radiation,  muscular  force,  pulmonary  capacity,  inspiration  and  expira- 
tion, and  on  the  state  of  the  nervous  system,  using  the  reaction  time 
of  the  tendinous  reflex." 

The  experiments  are  described  separately  thus : 

"  I.  Caloric  Radiation. — The  experiments  were  made  on  4  women,  com- 
prising 10  periods.  The  thermofugostope  of  Arnshen  was  used.  The 
tests  were  always  made  at  the   same  point  on  the  chest. 

"2.  Muscular  Energy. — 16  women  and  20  menstrual  periods.  Measure- 
ments made  with  both  hands  with  the  Collin  dynamometer  (with  2 
pointers). 

"  3.  Vital  Capacity  and  Vital  Force. — 19  women  and  19  periods.  Hutch- 
inson spirometer  and  Waldenburg  pneumometer. 

"4.  Reaction  Time  of  the  Tendinous  Reflex  of  the  Knee. — ^4  women  and 
4  menstrual  periods.  Experiments  performed  by  means  of  a  small 
hammer  especially  invented  for  researches  of  this  kind  by  Dr.  Daniel. 
(See  'Seances  et  Memoirs  de  la  Societe  de  Biologic,'  1882,  p.  595.)" 

In  summing  up  the  results  of  his  experiment  Van  Ott  says, 
"  We  found  that  the  energy  of  functic«is  of  the  female  organism 
is  augmented  before  the  beginning  of  menstruation,  and  dimin- 
ished immediately  before  or  with  the  onset  of  the  hemorrhage. 

et  10  periodes  menstruelles,  pratiquees  avec  le  thermofugostope  d* Arnshen ; 
elles  ont  toujours  ete  faites  sur  un  seul  et  meme  point  de  la  poitrine. 

"  2.  Force  Musculaire. — 16  f  emmes  et  20  periodes  menstruelles.  Mesures 
prises  aux  deux  mains  avec  le  dynamometre  de  Collin  (avec  2  aiguilles). 

"3.  Capacite  Pulmonaire  et  Force  de  VExcursion  Puhnonaire. — 19 
femmes  avec  19  periodes  menstruelles.  Spirometre  Hutchinson  et  pneu- 
mometre  de  Waldenburg. 

"4.  Temps  de  Reaction  du  Reflexe  Tendineux  du  Gennu. — 4  femmes 
avec  4  periodes  menstruelles.  Experiences  pratiquees  avec  un  petit 
marteau  invente  specialement  pour  ce  genre  de  recherches  par  le  Dr. 
Daniel.  (Comptes  rendus  des  Seances  et  Memoirs  de  la  Societe  dc 
Biologic,  1882,  p.  595-)"     .     .     . 

"  Nous  avons  trouve  que  I'energie  des  fonctions  de  I'organisme 
feminin  augmente  avant  le  debut  de  la  menstruation  et  diminue  au 
contraire  immediatement)  avant  ou  avec  de  debut  de  I'hemorrhagie. 

"  Je  ne  veux  pas,  Messieurs,  vous  f  atiguer  par  I'enonce  des  details 
et  par  I'enumeration  de  tons  les  chiffres,  car  ils  seront  relates  dans  un 
travail  plus  considerable  qui  paraitra  sur  le  sujet. 

"  Quoique  j'ai  deja  dit  que  ce  schema  represente  le  type  des  oscilla- 
tions de  toutes  les  fonctions  sur  lesquelles  ont  porte  nos  recherches.  je 
dois  faire  observer  que  I'excitabilite  maxima  du  systeme  nerveux  reste 
parfois  un  peu  au-dessous,  tandis  qu'elle  atteint  son  summum  pendant 
la  menstruation  elle  meme ;  ceci  est  confirme  par  I'ensemble  de  tous 
les  cas  observes.  II  en  est  de  meme  du  rayonnement  calorique,  qui 
atteint  son  maximum  pendant  I'ecoulment  menstruel." 


Curves  of  Physiological  Processes  71 

"  I  will  not  tire  you,  gentlemen,  with  a  recital  of  the  details 
and  the  enumeration  of  all  the  figures,  for  these  will  be  given 
in  a  work  much  more  considerable  on  this  subject." 

Unfortunately  this  promised  book  never  appeared,  so  far  as 
the  present  writer  is  able  to  discover,  and  no  figures  whatever 
are  given  in  this  address.  We  are  not  told  who  were  his  sub- 
jects; whether  they  were  women  in  the  hospital  or  women  who 
were  perfectly  well,  and  normal  as  to  menstruation ;  whether 
they  knew  the  purpose  of  the  experiment,  or  were  naive.  For 
these  several  reasons  it  is  impossible  to  examine  and  analyze 
Van  Ott's  data,  for  purposes  of  comparison  with  the  present 
study.  The  curve  which  he  constructed  (Figure  12)  is  a  mere 
schematic  presentation  of  the  general  drift  of  the  results  ("  ce 
schema  represente  le  type  des  oscillations"),  and  is  not  platted 
from  any  actual  figures.  Moreover  it  represents  the  com- 
bination of  all  four  experiments,  and  it  is  therefore  not  known 
what  happened  in  the  case  of  any  individual  test;  though  the 
author  does  state  that  the  excitability  of  the  nervous  system 
reaches  its  climax  during  menstruation,  and  that  the  same  is 
true  of  caloric  radiation.  In  the  light  of  these  last  two  state- 
ments it  is  somewhat  difficult  to  understand  how  his  "  schema  " 
comprising  all  four  tests  can  indicate  such  a  great  drop  during 
menstruation,  since  in  two  of  the  tests  the  curve  reaches  its 
climax  at  that  time.  In  short,  it  is  regrettable  that  the  data 
collected  by  Van  Ott  are  not  available. 

Clelia  D.  Mosher,^  working  over  ten  years  later  than  Van  Ott, 
took  daily  records  of  blood  pressure  on  women  and  men,  thus 
avoiding  an  error  of  previous  investigators,  who  neglected  to 
use  as  a  control  human  beings  not  subject  to  the  phenomenon 
in   question.     Dr.    Mosher's   experiment  is   quoted  as   follows: 

"Method. — Daily  records  of  the  blood  pressure  were  made  on  14 
persons, — 9  women  and  5  men.  The  women  were  selected  as  repre- 
senting normal  conditions  of  menstrual  health.  The  men  were  all  healthy 
adults,  and  four  were  athletic.  An  attempt  was  made  to  continue  the 
record  long  enough  to  cover  at  least  two  periods  of  change  in  pressure; 

8  Mosher,  Normal  Menstruation  and  Some  of  the  Factors  Modifying 
It,  Johns  Hopkins  Hosp.  Bull,  Apr.,  May,  June,  1901. 

Note.— Ellis  (Man  and  Woman,  1909  ed.,  p.  286)  characterizes  Van 
Ott's  curve  as  "the  most  accurate."  Hall  (Adolescence,  Vol.  I,  p.  487) 
also  reproduces  Van  Ott's  curve  without  critical  comment,  but  mistakenly 
attributes  it  to  Engelmann,  who  has  reproduced  it  in  his  work  on  "  The 
American  Girl  of  Today."     (See  Bibliography.) 


72  Functional  Periodicity 

in  some  cases  the  observations  extended  over  49  days.  .  .  .  The 
blood  pressure  records  were  made  with  the  spygmanometer  of  Mosso. 
The  tracings  were  taken  daily  at  the  same  hour,  and  under  uniform 
conditions,  perfect  relaxation  being  secured  and  all  variable  factors 
excluded  as  far  as  possible. 

"  Conclusions. — That  a  rhythmical  fall  of  blood  pressure,  at  definite 
intervals,  occurs  in  both  men  and  women.  The  daily  records  of  the 
blood  pressure  with  the  spygmanometer  of  Mosso  on  both  men  and 
women  under  similar  conditions  of  life  and  occupation  give  curves 
apparently  indistinguishable  in  character.  The  fall  in  pressure  in  women 
occurs  near  or  at  the  menstrual  period.  In  all  of  the  14  series  of  records 
the  fall  of  blood  pressure  was  gradual  from  the  mean  average  pressure. 
This  from  day  to  day  shows  oscillations  within  rather  definite  limits. 
The  maximum  fall  of  pressure  may  extend  over  two  or  three  days  and 
the  corresponding  rise  to  normal  average  pressure  is  gradual.  There 
is  usually  a  preliminary  rise,  above  the  normal  average  pressure;  this 
occurs  from  3-5  days  before  the  onset  of  the  main  fall  of  pressure, 
which  constitutes  the  principal  feature  of  the  rhythm.  In  every  case 
there  was  a  preliminary  fall,  abrupt  and  definite,  but  usually  not  so 
extensive  as  the  main  fall  of  pressure;  this  preliminary  fall  was  fol- 
lowed by  a  return  to  the  normal  or  higher  pressure,  before  the  principal 
fall  occurred.  In  4  cases  there  was  a  distinct  rise  above  the  normal 
after  the  main  fall  of  pressure,  before  the  return  to  the  normal  daily 
oscillations.     These  variations  were  not  peculiar  to  either  sex." 

Mosher  gives  no  figures  and  no  curves.  This  article  was 
published  as  a  preliminary  report,  but,  so  far  as  the  present 
writer  is  able  to  discover,  no  subsequent  publication  of  data  has 
been  made.  It  is  thus  impossible  to  compare  the  records  in 
any  definite  way  with  the  figures  of  the  present  study. 

The  fact  that  the  fluctuating  curves  of  the  women  subjects 
were  "  apparently  indistinguishable  in  character  "  from  those  of 
the  men  subjects  gives  rise  to  the  question,  whether  the  fluctua- 
tions found  by  Mosher  and  previous  investigators  are  to  be 
connected  with  menstruation  as  a  cause.  This,  it  may  be  added, 
is  a  point  which  seems  to  have  escaped  nearly  all  writers  who 
have  quoted  Mosher.* 


*  Howell  (Text-Book  of  Physiology,  1908,  p.  879")  notes  that  Mosher 
obtained  similar  curves  for  men  and  women,  and  suggests  that  this 
points  to  a  reproductive  cycle  in  men  as  well  as  in  women. 

F3  had  15  preliminary  practice  trials  previous  to  Sept.  29. 

In  platting  the  curves  of  F4  individually  two  menstrual  periods  are 
included,  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  the  first  month  is  much  affected  by 
practice,  causing  the  whole  curve  to  take  a  decided  downward  slope.  In 
platting  the  combined  curves  for  all  the  women  subjects,  however,  only 
the  second  menstrual  period  for  F4  is  included.  These  remarks  apply 
also  to  the  pseudo-periods  for  M2. 


Curves  oj  Physiological  Processes 


73 


To  obtain  from  the  present  study  curves  of  mental  and  motor 
performance  which  would  be  comparable  with  those  platted  for 
physiological  functioning,  the  following  method  was  used.  Be- 
cause of  the  great  amount  of  practice  during  the  first  thirty 
days,  which  when  superimposed  upon  records  for  the  other 
months,  would  skew  the  curve,  the  first  four  weeks  of  work 
for  each  subject  were  thrown  out.  This  left  the  record  of 
two  menstrual  periods  for  Fi,  of  three  menstrual  periods  each 
for  F2  and  F3,  and  of  one  menstrual  period  for  F4.  The  figures 
for  each  test  for  each  individual  were  then  arranged  in  columns, 
with  the  five  days  of  the  menstrual  period  at  about  the  center 
of  the  series,  as  in  Van  Ott's  curve,  thus: 


Section  from  the  Record  of  F2:  Tapping 


lstmo.,-etc.  40.0  39.6  39.2 
2d  mc.-etc.  35.4  35.0  39.6 
3d  mo.,-etc.  36.2  37.8  36.2 


37.4*  38.6*  36.4*  40.8*  39.2* 
37.0*  37.6*  36.8*  36.4*  35.4* 
36.6*  36.2*  37.3*  37.4*  36.9* 


40.8  39.8  etc. 

38.8  36.6  etc. 

37.9  36.7  etc. 


The  corresponding  days  in  each  monthly  period  for  a  subject 
in  a  test  were  placed  one  beneath  the  other  as  shown  above,  and 
the  average  for  each  day  of  the  28  was  then  computed.  Figures 
5,  6,  7  and  8  were  platted  from  these  averages.  It  is  evident 
that  these  curves  (except  the  curve  for  fatiguability)  will  be 
slightly  inclined  downward,  from  the  first  of  the  month  toward 
the  last,  because  there  was  some  practice,  even  after  excluding 
the  records  of  the  first  thirty  days.  The  curves  for  Fi,  F2,  F3 
and  F4  are  platted  separately,  to  show  the  individual  differences 
which  might  appear.    The  curve  for  each  test  is  platted  separately. 

The  result  agrees  in  no  case  with  the  curve  of  Van  Ott  (Fig- 
ure 12).  Nothing  Hke  a  "wave"  is  discernible.  The  curves 
pursue  their  course  straight  across  the  month,  with  the  familiar 
irregular  variations  which  are  characteristic  of  all  curves  of 
mental  and  motor  work.  The  curves  of  Mi  and  M2  (Figures 
9  and  10),  platted  in  the  same  way  as  those  of  the  women, 
from  chance  series  of  28  days  each,  yield  results  characteristically 
differing  in  no  way  from  those  yielded  by  Fi,  F2,  F3,  and  F4. 

In  order  further  to  mass  the  data  it  was  desired  to  combine 
the  curves  of  the  four  women"  in  each  test,  i.  e.,  to  determine 

5  The  record  of  F6  is  not  included  in  these  composite  curves  on  account 
of  the  irregularity  in  the  occurrence  and  duration  of  menstrual  periods. 


74  Functional  Periodicity 

the  composite  curve  of  Fi,  F2,  F3,  and  F4  (i)  in  tapping,  (2) 
in  steadiness,  etc.  It  is  evident  that  in  order  to  effect  a  proper 
statistical  synthesis  of  these  records  it  will  be  necessary  first 
to  reduce  the  records  of  the  three  individuals  to  a  common  ratio. 
It  v^^ill  not  be  productive  of  reliable  results  to  make  use  of 
absolute  amounts,  as  was  done  when  the  individuals  were  con- 
sidered each  by  herself.  This  fact  becomes  at  once  clear  when 
we  take  up  a  sample  from  the  records.  In  the  steadiness  test, 
e.  g.,  the  averages  for  the  first  day  of  the  series  run  thus;  re- 
spectively: Fi — 37.0  (contacts),  F2 — 20.0  (contacts),  F3 — 9.3 
(contacts),  F4 — 5.0  (contacts).  Now,  if  these  four  absolute 
amounts  be  averaged  to  obtain  the  combined  curve,  it  is  seen 
that  Fi  will  have  nearly  twice  as  much  influence  upon  it  as 
F2,  and  four  times  as  much  influence  as  F3,  etc.  Thus  Fi  will 
determine  the  shape  of  the  curve,  merely  because  she  as  an  indi- 
vidual is  much  less  steady  than  any  of  the  other  subjects ; 
whereas  F3,  whose  record  is  the  most  reliable  of  the  four,  be- 
cause it  includes  the  greatest  number  of  trials,  will  have  but 
little  influence  in  determining  the  shape  of  the  composite  curve, 
merely  because  she  as  an  individual  is  four  times  as  steady 
as  Fi,  and  twice  as  steady  as  F2.  This  principle  is  applicable 
in  all  the  tests  (except  for  fatiguability,  where  the  records  are 
already  in  terms  of  per  cent).  For  instance,  in  color  naming 
the  slowest  person  will  exert  more  influence  on  the  composite 
curve  than  the  most  rapid  person,  merely  because  her  record 
will  be  greatest  in  absolute  number  of  seconds.  Fi  is  like  her- 
self from  time  to  time,  but  unlike  F2,  F3  and  F4  in  the  traits 
here  measured;  F2  is  like  herself,  but  unlike  Fi,  F3  and  F4, 
and  so  forth  for  the  other  subjects.  Therefore  absolute  amounts 
may  be  averaged  to  determine  a  composite  curve  for  a  single 
individual  in  a  single  trait ;  but  absolute  amounts  may  not  be 
used  to  determine  a  composite  curve  for  many  individuals  in 
a  single  trait. 

This  was  the  method  of  combining  the  curves.  The  averages 
for  each  individual  for  each  test,  used  in  platting  the  curves 
found  in  Figures  5,  6,  7  and  8  were  taken.  Each  figure  was 
reduced  to  a  per  cent  of  the  first  figure  in  its  series.  Thus,  for 
example,  the  record  of  Fi  in  steadiness,  which  in  absolute 
amounts  runs  37.0,  30.5,  42.0,  26.0,  etc.,  becomes   loo.o,  82.4, 


Curves  of  Physiological  Processes  75 

1 13.4,  70.3,  etc.;  the  record  of  F2  for  steadiness,  which  in 
absolute  amounts  runs  20.0,  21.5,  19.3,  12.3,  etc.,  becomes  loo.o, 

107.5,  96-5,  61.5,  etc.;  the  record  of  F3  for  steadiness,  which 
in  absolute  amounts  runs  9.3,  8.3,  10.2,  13.31,  etc.,  becomes  lOO.o, 
89.3,  iio.o,  141. o,  etc.;  the  record  of  F4,  for  steadiness,  which 
in  absolute  amounts  runs  5.0,  4.0,  7.0,  6.0,  etc.,  becomes  lOO.o, 
80.0,  140.0,  120.0,  etc.  These  records  may  now  be  combined 
into  a  curve  on  the  shaping  of  which  each  individual  exerts  an 
equal  fraction  of  influence.  In  this  curve  all  individual  differ- 
ences will  tend  to  be  equalized,  all  accidental  differences  will 
tend  to  disappear;  and  if  there  be  a  genuine  characteristic  effect 
produced  by  a  phenomenon  to  which  all  the  women  are  thus 
made  simultaneously  subject,  that  effect  will  tend  to  emerge  and 
lend  itself  to  clear  definition.  The  curves  thus  platted  are  found 
in  Figure   11. 

These  curves  (except  fatiguability)  are  all  slightly  inclined 
downward  from  the  first  of  the  month  toward  the  last,  because 
of  practice.  To  consider  them  one  by  one:  Curve  A  (Tapping 
with  the  Stylus)  shows  no  effect  due  to  menstruation,  except 
that  the  record  which  falls  on  the  first  day  is  equalled  only 
once  again  during  the  28  days,  and  that  on  the  28th  day,  after 
14  days  of  practice  which,  as  may  be  noted,  brings  the  whole 
curve  gradually  downward.  This  apparent  effect  is  in  all  prob- 
ability, however,  due  solely  to  chance.  Otherwise  the  curve 
proceeds  straight  across  the  period  and  across  the  month  with 
the  familiar  irregularities  indistinguishable  from  those  found  in 
the  curves  of  Mi  and  M2.  Curve  B  (Tapping  with  the  Key) 
follows  the  irregular  course  of  the  ordinary  practice  curve.  It  is 
more  irregular  than  Curve  A  because  it  is  composed  of  the 
records  of  but  two  individuals  (F2  and  F3).  Curve  C  (Steadi- 
ness) shows  that  the  subjects  were  very  steady  on  the  first  two 
days  of  the  critical  period.  The  record  of  the  second  day  is  the 
steadiest  of  the  28.  These  conclusions  regarding  a  genuine 
characteristic  effect  on  any  day  are,  however,  to  be  advanced 
with  much  caution.  The  curves  of  Mi  and  M2  also  show 
"lowest  points,"  as  for  example,  in  Mi's  curve  for  steadiness 
the  day  preceding  the  pseudo-critical  period  is  distinctly  the  best 
record  of  the  28,  and  if  it  occurred  on  the  curve  of  the  women 
might  well  be  said  to  indicate  maximum  steadiness  on  the  day 
preceding  menstruation. 


76  Functional  Periodicity 

The  curves  for  speed  and  accuracy  of  perception  (Curve  D), 
for  controlled  association  {Curve  E),  for  fatiguability  (Curve 
F),  show  no  extraordinary  deviations  whatever  during  menstru- 
ation. The  curves  proceed  as  the  ordinary  practice  curve  does, 
slightly  inclined  downward,  and  suggesting  neither  remarkable 
inferiority  nor  remarkable  superiority  of  performance  on  the 
first  day  nor  any  other  day  of  the  critical  period. 

No  clear  and  valuable  result  would  be  expected  from  averag- 
ing all  curves  for  all  individuals  for  all  tests  together  to  deter- 
mine the  presence  of  a  "  cycle  "  or  "  wave,"  because  there  is 
no  reason  to  assume  that  if  menstruation  exerted  a  real  influ- 
ence upon  the  processes  here  measured,  that  influence  would  be 
the  same  on  all  processes.  For  instance,  menstruation  might 
cause  a  subject  to  tap  more  rapidly,  but  to  associate  more  slowly, 
and  thus  a  real  "  wave  "  might  be  established  in  each  of  these 
processes.  But  to  combine  them  would  obviously  just  equalize 
the  differences,  and  obscure  the  form  of  the  "  wave."  However,  a 
total  curve  composed  of  Curves  A,  B,  C,  D,  E,  and  F  was  platted 
for  purposes  of  comparison  with  Van  Ott's  Curve,  which  pur- 
ports to  show  the  combined  behavior  of  several  physiological 
processes.  (See  Figure  12.)  This  composite  curve  is  designated 
as  Curve  G  and  is  found  in  Figure  12,  running  beneath  Van 
Ott's  "  schema."     Each  point  on  it  is  the  average  of  66  figures. 

Van  Ott  gives  no  satisfactory  account  of  the  statistical  treat- 
ment of  his  figures.  He  does  not  give  any  mathematical  dem- 
onstration of  his  results,  leaving  these,  as  he  says,  for  a  subse- 
quent publication,  which  was  never  made.  Consequently  it  is 
impossible  to  compare  his  curve  and  Curve  G  unit  for  unit. 
Indeed  it  is  not  at  all  clear  that  Van  Ott's  curve  is  mathematically 
true  in  any  sense,  even  in  the  preservation  of  relative  propor- 
tions. Nevertheless  Curve  G  is  given  graphically  in  company 
with  Van  Ott's  curve.  It  is  at  once  evident  that  the  only  con- 
sistent tendency  which  Curve  G  shows  is  the  slight  gradual 
descent  due  to  practice  between  the  first  and  last  of  each  month. 
It  is  not  uninteresting  to  observe  that  the  figure  indicating 
greatest  average  efficiency  in  all  tests  chances  to  fall,  as  a  matter 
of  fact,  on  the  second  day  of  the  critical  period. 

Curve  G'  is  a  composite  curve  showing  the  total  performance 
of  Mi  and  M2  for  four  pseudo-cycles  (3  cycles  for  Mi  and  i 
cycle  for  M2)  of  28  days  each,  in  six  various  kinds  of  work. 


Curves  of  Physiological  Processes  77 

The  averages  used  in  platting  Figures  9  and  10  were  converted 
into  per  cent  of  the  initial  day  in  each  test,  exactly  as  in  the 
case  of  the  women,  and  then  were  combined  into  a  total  curve 
which  corresponds  exactly  to  Curve  G,  and  is  comparable  with 
it  unit  for  unit.  Curve  G'  thus  may  be,  and  is,  platted  on  the 
same  base  and  scale  as  Curve  G.  (See  Figure  12.)  We  have 
now  a  graphic  presentation  of  the  monthly  curve  of  work  for 
the  women,  as  compared  with  that  for  the  men,  and  with  Van 
Ott's  curve.  Curve  G  follows  the  same  trend  as  Curve  G' ;  they 
constantly  touch  and  cross  throughout  their  course.  Curve  G' 
is,  of  course,  not  so  regular  as  Curve  G  because  it  is  composed 
of  the  records  of  but  two  individuals,  and  accidental  differences 
are  not  so  well  equalized.  As  an  illustration  of  the  ease  with 
which  the  investigator  may  be  led  into  deducing  false  conclusions 
in  studies  of  this  kind,  note  that  Curve  G'  shows  a  considerable 
drop  just  before  the  critical  period.  Had  this  occurred  on  the 
curve  of  the  women,  the  conclusion  would  have  been  suggested 
that  this  must  be  ascribed  to  approaching  menstruation  as  a 
cause. 

It  must  be  concluded  that  the  curves  platted  for  mental  and 
motor  performances  do  not  correlate-  with  those  previously 
platted  for  physiological  functioning.  An  interesting  confirma- 
tion of  the  reliability  of  this  conclusion  is  found  in  the  work 
of  Frederick  Lyman  Wells.®  In  order  to  determine  the  relation 
of  practice  to  individual  differences  he  experimented  with  ten 
subjects.     He  describes  his  experiment  as  follows: 

"A  group  of  ten  subjects  underwent  these  tests  daily,  six  days  in  the 
week,  for  a  period  of  thirty  experimental  days.  The  subjects  were 
nurses  in  the  McLean  Hospital,  five  men  and  five  women,  of  ages  vary- 
ing from  21  to  35  years.  The  work  performed  each  day  consisted  of 
five  minutes  of  addition,  and  on  the  first  ten  days  one  record  of  the 
number-checking  test;  while  on  the  succeeding  twenty  days,  five  records 
of  the  number-checking  test  were  executed  each  day.  The  times  of  day 
were  the  same  for  each  subject." 

8  F.  Lyman  Wells,  Relation  of  Practice  to  Individual  Differences, 
Am.  Jour.  Psych.,  Jan.,  1912,  p.  yj. 

Note. — Wells  platted  his  curves  in  terms  of  amount  of  work  done, 
the  time  remaining  constant;  hence  his  curves  showing  improvement  run 
upward,  while  the  practice  curves  of  the  present  study  run  downward 
because  they  are  platted  in  terms  of  the  time  of  performance,  the  amount 
of  work  remaining  constant  (except  in  the  steadiness  test,  and  here  the 
practice  curve  also  runs  downward  because  the  effort  was  to  do  as  little 
as  possible,  that  is,  to  make  as  few  touches  as  possible,  instead  of  as 
much  as  possible). 


78 


Functional  Periodicity 


The  curves  from  Wells's  study  are  reproduced  in  Figures  13, 
14,  15  and  16.  Wells  took  no  note  whatever  of  the  occurrence 
of  menstruation  in  the  five  women  subjects,  so  we  do  not  know 
where  on  their  curves  these  periods  fell ;  and  it  is  impossible 
to  tell  by  inspection  in  any  case  which  were  the  days  presumably 
afifected.  The  curves  of  the  women  show  no  characteristic  lapses 
from  efficiency,  but  are  quite  indistinguishable  in  course  and  form 
from  those  of  the  men,  as  in  the  case  of  the  present  study. 


^^Y        J     J.     i     f    i-     0     7     t      1     l»     II    JX    13   >•*    li    /L    /7    IS    /f  Jit   JU  XI  2i 

Figure  4. — Samples  of  Stephenson's  Curves,  after  Jacobi. 


Reproduced  from  Anier.  Jour.  Obstet.,  1882,  Vol.  15. 

Cwrve' ^  ^  Temperature    (average   99.31). 

Curve  B  =  Pulse. 

Curve  C  =  Urea   (average  25.2  grms.). 

These  are  the  average  curves  of  three  total  cycles  of  twenty-three 
days  each.  The  records  indicate  the  daily  deviations  above  and  below 
the  average. 


Curves  of  Physiological  Processes 


79 


Td}>j>'in^ 


Ody   f  *■  *  y  J"  6  '  *  f  /*  »  /x  (t  /i^  /J-  /t  ff.  /t  /r  It  If  a  a  iM  txu.  zt  2s 
Figure  5. — Fi.     Average  Monthly  Course  of  Each  Test. 


fkppin^St-ylus) 


I    J  f  J-  t    1  t   t  r»  /»  It.  li  I*  "'  't  n  //  >f  J.'  z/  n  a  if  ui-  jt  -It  iM 
Figure  6. — F2.     Average  Monthly  Course  of  Each  Test. 


80 


Functional  Periodicity 


■■■■«'■■ 


I    I   I    I  I I— i- 


Pd.<f     I     *    i     t   i-  a     7     $    1    /a   u    /ji  /3  /*  /r  /i  J7  /t  /f  t»  JU  u.  U  -if  i^  x*  it  It 

Figure  7. — F3.     Average   Monthly  Course  of   Each  Test. 


r<ippir,g 


A/lenst 
Peri  o  J 


D<i-Y    I    A   J    ^  tr  i    7    $    t   rt  II  Ji  It  I*  /r  u  /7  /%  ft  2J  1/  1).  -ji  It  XI-  4*  «  i.1 

Figure  8. — F4.     Average  Monthly  Course  of   Each  Test. 


Curves  of  Physiological  Processes 


81 


I L_l I 1 I I L__l 


Gdy      '     i      i     V    »■    0      7     t     f     /»    4'    a    'S    I*  O-  't.   /7    /»  /f   t-a   XI   XI   H  it'  »l-/t   X7    xs 

Figure  9. — Mi.     Average  Monthly  Course  of  Each  Test. 


Td^J^in^ 


O^y 


I   X  i  f-  y  i  7  t  r  /<>  //  n  /i  t¥  /r  /i  //  it  if  jt  n  ji  jj  zi  x*  jt.  xi  z$ 


Figure  10— M2.    Average  Monthly  Course  of  Each  Test. 


Functional  Periodicity 


Figure  ii 


Curve  A:  Tapping  with  Stylus.  (Subjects  Fi,  F2,  F3  and  F4.) 
Abscissas  indicate  successive  days ;  ordinates  indicate  speed  of  perform- 
ance on  successive  days  in  terms  of  per  cent  of  the  initial  day. 

Curve  B:  Tapping  with  Key.  (Subjects  ¥2  and  F3.)  Abscissas  indi- 
cate successive  days;  ordinates  indicate  speed  of  performance  in  terms 
of  per  cent  of  the  initial  day. 

Curve  C:  Steadiness.  (Subjects  Fi,  ¥2,  F3  and  F4.)  Abscissas  indi- 
cate successive  days;  ordinates  indicate  number  of  involuntary  move- 
ments (tremor)  per  30  seconds,  on  successive  days,  in  terms  of  per 
cent  of  the  initial  day. 


Curves  of  Physiological  Processes 


83 


Figure  ii — (Continued). 

Curve  D:  Color  Naming.  (Subjects  Fi,  F2,  F3  and  F4.)  Abscissas 
indicate  successive  days ;  ordinates  indicate  speed  of  performance  on 
successive  days,  in  terms  of  per  cent  of  the  initial  day. 

Curve  E:  Opposites.  (Subjects  Fi,  F2,  F3  and  F4.)  Abscissas  indi- 
cate successive  days ;  ordinates  indicate  speed  of  performance  on  suc- 
cessive days,  in  terms  of  per  cent  of  the  initial  day. 

Curve  F:  Fatiguability.  Tapping  with  Key.  (Subjects  F2  and  F3.) 
Abscissas  indicate  successive  days;  ordinates  indicate  degree  of  fatigue 
on  successive  days  in  terms  of  the  index  of  fatigue. 


^--a' 


Figure  12 


Curve  G:  Composite  curve  composed  of  Curves  A,  B,  C,  D,  E  and  F. 
Shovi^s  total  performance  of  Fi,  F2,  F3,  and  F4;  includes  ten  cycles  of 
28  days  each,  and  six  various  kinds  of  performance.  Composed  for 
purposes  of  comparison  with  Van  Ott's  Curve  {Curve  V),  and  with 
the  composite  curve  of  Mi  and  M2  {Curve  G'). 

Curve  G' :  Composite  curve  showing  the  total  performance  of  Mi  and 
M2;  includes  five  pseudo-cycles  of  28  days  each,  and  six  various  kinds 
of  performance.  Abscissas  indicate  successive  days;  ordinates  indicate 
performance  in  terms  of  per  cent  of  the  initial  day.  Thus  Curve  G  and 
Curve  G'  may  be  and  are  platted  on  the  same  base  and  scale. 

Curve  V :  Van  Ott's  Curve  of  the  monthly  cycle,  showing  the  com- 
bined behavior  of  blood  pressure,  temperature,  pulse,  caloric  radiation, 
vital  capacity,  and  reflex  action.     (See  p.  70  of  this  monograph.) 


84 


Functional  Periodicity 


ittrt 
IX* 


SO 


ko 


/5rfJ     Ita  10  ly  3.0  2.sr  30 

Figure    13.      (Wells) — Number-checking    Test — Women. 

The  score  indicates  the  number  of  o's  checked  in  one  minute,  on  each 
of  30  successive  daj's,  by  five  different  individuals,  each  curve  repre- 
senting a  single  individual. 


Score 

f¥9 


Day    I  ta    It  ly  io  xi'  ^^ 

Figure   14.      (Wells) — Number-checking   Test — Men. 

The  score  indicates  the  number  of  o's  checked  in  one  minute,  on  each 
of  30  successive  days,  by  five  different  individuals,  each  curve  repre- 
senting a  single  individual. 


Curves  of  Physiological  Processes 


85 


5t«r< 
600 


ya« 


30  « 


2.«o 


^<yr  I         f  /o  a-         i*  xi-         j« 

Figure    15.      (Wells) — Addition    Test — Women.    ', 

The  score  indicates  the  number  of  additions  made  in  five  minutes,  on 
each  of  30  successive  days,  by  five  different  individuals,  each  curve 
representing  a  single  individual. 


FiGURE    16.      (Wells) — Addition    Test — Men. 


The  score  indicates  the  number  of  additions  made  in  five  minutes,  on 
each  of  30  successive  days,  by  five  different  individuals,  each  curve 
representing  a  single  individual. 


X 

AN  EXTENSIVE  EXPERIMENT: 

STEADINESS,  TAPPING  AND  CONTROLLED 

ASSOCIATION  (OPPOSITES) 

Aim,  Scope  and  Method 

It  was  felt  to  be  highly  desirable  that  as  many  women  as  pos- 
sible should  be  tested  in  order  that  some  intelligent  idea  might 
be  gained  as  to  the  range  of  individual  differences  which  might 
exist  in  the  matter  of  mental  and  motor  ability  during  menstrua- 
tion. Accordingly,  through  the  great  courtesy  and  kindness  of 
Miss  Caroline  Stackpole  and  Professor  Maurice  Bigelow  of  the 
Department  of  Biology  in  Teachers  College,  Columbia  University, 
an  invitation  was  extended  to  the  women  students  in  that  depart- 
ment to  take  part  in  an  experiment  as  outlined  below.  Seven- 
teen women  volunteered  their  services.  All  of  them  were  pro- 
fessional women,  their  professions  including  teaching,  nursing, 
sanitary  engineering,  and  domestic  supervision.  They  ranged  in 
age  from  20  to  40  years.  They  were  not  selected  by  the  experi- 
menter on  any  basis  except  that  described  above,  i.  e.,  their  in- 
terest in  responding  to  an  invitation  to  assist  in  executing  a  piece 
of  scientific  work.  It  is,  however,  true  that  they  were  a  selected 
group  of  women,  for  their  presence  as  professional  workers  and 
students  in  a  great  university  indicates  at  once  that  the  patho- 
logical, the  feeble,  the  ignorant  and  the  lazy  had  at  least  been 
eliminated  from  their  group.  Some  of  them  knew  the  purpose 
of  the  experiment,  some  of  them  suspected  it,  and  some  were 
ignorant  of  it. 

The  aim  of  the  extensive  experiment  was  the  same  as  that  of 
the  intensive  experiment. 

The  method  of  the  extensive  experiment  was  very  much  less 
exact  than  in  the  case  of  the  intensive  work.  The  tests  were 
given  in  the  same  order  at  each  trial,  but  they  were  not  always 
given  at  the  same  hour  of  the  day,  nor  by  the  same  person. 

86 


An  Extensive  Experiment  87 

Instead  of  being  given  daily,  the  tests  were  made  only  on  every 
third  day.  The  experiment  extended  over  thirty  days,  thus 
yielding  ten  records,  and  including  at  least  one  menstrual  period, 
for  every  subject.  For  the  sake  of  reliability,  two  trials  were 
made  at  each  sitting,  and  the  record  for  any  given  test  on  any 
given  subject  for  any  given  day  is  the  average  of  two  trials. 
At  each  sitting  a  list  of  questions  (to  be  discussed  later),  was 
answered  by  each  subject. 

The  scope  of  the  intensive  experiment  was  greater  as  respects 
number  of  subjects  included ;  it  was  less  as  respects  number  of 
traits  tested  and  period  of  time  covered.  Only  three  of  the 
tests  used  in  the  intensive  work  were  used  here,  i.e.,  (i)  Steadi- 
ness, (2)  Tapping,  (3)  Opposites. 

Steadiness 

The  data  from  the  extensive  experiment  will  not  be  presented 
in  great  detail,  as  were  the  data  from  the  intensive  experiment. 
All  the  data  are,  however,  on  record  at  Teachers  College,  and 
may  be  consulted  for  purposes  of  criticism  or  comparison  by 
properly  qualified  persons. 

The  method  of  presenting  the  data  is  as  follows :  Each  record 
was  reduced  to  a  multiple  of  the  Mean  Variation  of  the  group 
by  first  obtaining  the  variation  of  each  individual  at  each  trial 
from  the  average  of  the  group  at  that  trial,  and  then  dividing 
these  individual  variations  through  by  the  Mean  Variation  of 
the  group.  Thus,  to  illustrate,  the  first  trials  for  the  seventeen 
individuals  in  the  tapping  test  ran  as  follows : 


Subject  A 

47.0  sec. 

"       B 

68.5    " 

"       C 

57.9    " 

"       D 

58.7    " 

"       E 

53.4    " 

etc. 

When  these  records  for  all  seventeen  subjects  were  averaged, 
the  result  was  60.9  seconds  (the  average  performance  of  the 
group  as  a  whole).  When  the  variation  of  each  individual  from 
this  average  was  found  these  variations  ran  as  follows : 

Subject  A       +13.9  sec. 
"       B      —  7.6    " 
"      C       +  3.0    " 

D       +   2.2     " 
"       E       +  7.5    " 
etc. 


88 


Functional  Periodicity 


The  -\-  sign  signifies  better  than  the  average  of  the  group,  and 
the  —  sign  signifies  poorer  than  the  average,  of  the  group. 
When  these  variations  are  averaged,  the  Mean  Variation  for  the 
group  of  seventeen  is  found  to  be  -^  5.3. 

Now  dividing  each  individual  variation  through  by  this  Mean 
Variation  of  the  group,  we  have  the  record  of  each  individual 
for  the  first  trial  in  the  tapping  test  reduced  to  a  multiple  of  the 
Mean  Variation  of  the  group.  The  record  now  runs  as  follows, 
and  these  are  the  figures  which  appear  in  Tables  XVIII,  XIX, 
and  XX : 


Subiect  A 

+2.60  sec. 

"       B 

—1.43  " 

"       C 

+0.57  " 

"       D 

+0.41  " 

"       E 

+  1.41  " 

The  same  procedure  was  carried  through  for  the  second  trial, 
the  third  trial,  etc.,  in  all  three  of  the  test^.  until  every  individual 
record  had  been  reduced  to  a  multiple  of  the  Mean  Variation 
of  the  group.  This  method  tends  to  minimize  the  influence  of 
individual  differences  in  absolute  ability,  of  practice,  and  of  other 
factors  that  might  tend  to  obscure  the  specific  problem  here 
under  consideration.  The  method  has  been  used  by  Norsworthy^ 
and  by  Sleight,-  and  has  been  recommended  by  Thorndike.^ 

The  next  step  in  the  statistical  procedure  was  to  place  all  the 
critical  days  in  two  columns,  with  the  ordinary  days  running  out 
from  the  critical  period  in  both  directions  as  might  chance.  It 
would  obviously  happen  by  chance  that  certain  of  the  subjects 
would  be  menstruating  just  as  the  experiment  was  begun ;  others, 
in  the  midst  of  the  experiment ;  others,  at  the  very  end  of  the 
experiment.  For  example,  the  critical  period  for  Subject  A  oc- 
curred at  the  very  end  of  the  experiment;  for  Subject  B  it 
occurred  in  the  midst  of  the  experiment ;  for  Subject  C  it 
occurred  on  the  fourth  trial.  Thus  their  records  are  arranged 
as  follows : 


(A) +2.60   +2.10  +2.60       +2.48       +2.00  +2.40  +2.56 
(B)— 1.43       —2.90  —0.95  —1  77 
(0+0.57   +0.17   +1.53 
etc.  etc.  etc. 


+  2.80   +3.60 
—1.16  —0.69 
—0.06   +1.67 
etc. 


—0.05  —2.00  —0.62   +0.10 
+  1.47   +1.30  +1.60  +0.89  +1.00 
etc.  etc.  etc 


1  Naomi  Norsworthy,  The  Psychology  of  Mentally  Deficient  Children, 
1906. 

2  W.  G.  Sleight,  Memory  and  Formal  Training,  Brit.  Jour.  Psych.,  191 1. 

3  E.  L.  Thorndike,  Educational  Psychology,   1910. 


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An  Extensive  Experiment  89 

There  are  two  columns  of  numbers  in  the  critical  period  be- 
cause for  about  one-half  of  the  subjects  two  of  the  five  days  of 
the  menstrual  period  chanced  to  be  included. 

When  the  records  for  the  seventeen  subjects  had  been  all 
arranged  (as  may  be  seen  in  Tables  XVIII,  XIX,  and  XX) 
the  columns  were  added  algebraically,  and  the  average  efficiency 
of  the  group  as  a  whole  at  every  trial  was  found.  Tables  XVIII, 
XIX,  and  XX  present  the  complete  data  as  thus  treated,  and 
show  the  individual  records,  as  well  as  the  performance  of  the 
group  as  a  whole. 

Table  XVIII  gives  the  record  of  the  steadiness  test.  If  there 
were  a  characteristic  inefficiency  at  critical  periods  for  the  group 
as  a  whole,  we  should  expect  that  the  average  performance  of 
the  group  at  the  critical  period  would  be  registered  as  poorer 
than  on  any  or  most  of  the  other  days.  Inspection  shows  that 
on  7  of  the  17  ordinary  days  the  records  were  the  same  as  or 
poorer  than  the  record  of  the  group  at  the  critical  period. 

Tapping 

The  tapping  test  was  exactly  the  same  as  that  described  in 
the  intensive  experiment  under  Pai  I  of  the  tapping  test.  (See 
p.  15.)  The  data  were  treated  and  are  presented  exactly  as 
in  the  case  of  the  steadiness  test  just  described.  Table  XIX 
includes  all  the  records  made  in  the  tapping  test,  each  record 
here  being  presented  as  a  multiple  of  the  Mean  Variation  of  the 
group.  Inspection  shows  that  on  11  of  the  17  ordinary  days 
the  records  were  the  same  as  or  poorer  than  the  record  of  the 
group  at  the  critical  period.  This  result  indicates  no  influence 
either  favorable  or  detrimental  on  speed  of  voluntary  movement 
at  the  menstrual  period. 

Opposites 

The  opposites  test  was  exactly  the  same  as  that  described  under 
the  intensive  experiment.  The  data  were  treated  and  are  pre- 
sented in  Table  XX,  in  exactly  the  same  way  as  in  the  steadiness 
and  tapping  tests  just  described.  Inspection  shows  that  on  6  of 
the  17  ordinary  days  the  records  were  the  same  as  or  poorer 
than  the  record  of  the  group  at  the  critical  period.  In  4  out  of 
the  6  cases  the  performance  of  the  group  on  ordinary  days  was 
much  poorer  than  at  the  critical  period. 


90  Functional  Periodicity 

Miscellaneous  Observations 

At  each  sitting  every  subject  recorded  answers  to  the  following 
questions : 

1.  Did  you  retire  at  the  usual  hour  last  night? 

2.  Were  your  evening  occupations  of  the  usual  sort? 

3.  Did  you  sleep  as  well  as  usual? 

4.  Did  you  rise  at  the  usual  hour? 

5.  Did  you  lunch  as  usual  ?    Was  your  diet  of  the  usual  kind  ? 

6.  Have  you  had  any  digestive  disturbance? 

7.  Have  you  taken  exercise  to-day?  Usual  amount?  Un- 
usual ? 

8.  Have  you  experienced  any  emotional  disturbance  in  the 
last  24  hours  ?  Irritation  ?  Depression  ?  Excitement  ?  Anger  ? 
etc. 

9.  Have  you  suffered  in  any  way  during  the  last  24  hours  ? 

10.  Note  the  beginning  of  menstruation. 

11.  Note  the  end  of  menstruation. 

Many  of  these  questions  have  no  direct  bearing  on  the  psycholo- 
gical problem  of  determining  mental  and  motor  efficiency  at  a 
given  time.  But  the  long  list  of  questions  served  to  divert  at- 
tention from  the  last  two  questions  in  the  case  of  those  who  did 
not  know  the  exact  purpose  of  the  experiment,  and  all  of  the 
questions  were  important  as  bearing  on  measurements  of  blood 
pressure,  temperature,  and  pulse  which  were  taken  throughout 
the  month  by  Miss  Stackpole. 

The  purpose  of  this  study,  as  has  been  stated,  was  simply  to 
determine  whether  there  is  any  measurable  change  in  efficiency 
in  mental  and  motor  processes  during  menstruation.  It  was  no 
part  of  the  original  aim  to  go  into  the  matter  of  introspection, 
or  to  discuss  the  affective  processes.  However,  a  brief  summary 
of  the  replies  obtained  from  these  questions  will  not  be  entirely 
out  of  place  here. 

Of  the  17  subjects,  4  reported  physical  disturbances  on  critical 
days,  as  follows : 

Subject  K — "  Abdominal  discomfort,  and  slight  headache." 
(Headache  also  reported  by  this  subject  on  days 
when  she  was  not  menstruating.) 

Subject    I — "  Very  slight  abdominal  pain." 


An  Extensive  Experiment  91 

Subject  D — "  Headache."     (Also  reported  on  many  other  days, 

when  not  menstruating.) 
Subject  A — "  Headache,"    on    the    fourth    day    of  the   period. 

(Never  reported  when  not  menstruating.) 
Of  the  remaining  13  subjects,  12  simply  entered  the  word  "  no  " 
under  the  question,  '*  Have  you  suffered  in  any  way  ?  "  on  critical 
days,  and  one  subject  had  "  a  cold  in  the  head  "  on  the  criti- 
cal day. 

Of  the  17  women  only  two  reported  emotional  disturbance  of 
any  kind  on  or  near  the  critical  day.     Thus 
Subject    I — "Worry."     (This  subject's  sister  was  very  ill.) 
Subject  D — "  Depressed  and  uncomfortable  on  account  of  the 

cold." 
It  is  to  be  noted  that  both  of  these  subjects  reported  physical 
disturbance  also  on  critical  days.  The  remaining  15  subjects 
simply  entered  the  words  "  no  "  or  "  none  "  imder  the  question, 
"  Have  you  experienced  any  emotional  disturbance  within  the 
last  24  hours  ?  "  on  their  critical  days. 

None  of  the  17  subjects  reported  that  her  occupations  had 
been  different,  except  that  some  of  them  "  went  to  the  theater," 
or  to  some  social  affair,  as  was  frequently  reported  at  other 
times. 

As  for  exercise,  none  of  the  17  women  reported  any  change 
at  critical  periods.  Those  who  did  not  exercise  on  other  days 
did  not  on  critical  days ;  those  who  took  exercise  on  other  days 
did  so  on  critical  days.  Thus  for  example,  Subject  B  reported 
"  moderate  walking  "  during  menstruation,  the  same  report  being 
made  on  other  days.  Subject  I  reported,  "  Just  came  from  the 
Gymnasium."  Subject  L  reported,  "  Walked  to  132nd  Street  and 
back,  as  usual." 

Briefly,  the  replies  to  the  miscellaneous  questions  which  were 
submitted  to  the  subjects  fail  to  yield  any  positive  result.  Had 
the  replies  been  written  without  any  key  to  the  occurrence  of 
critical  days,  the  investigator  would  have  been  utterly  unable 
to  determine  from  the  replies  when  these  critical  days  occurred, 
with  the  possible  exception  of  two  cases. 


XII 
CONCLUSIONS 

What,  now,  are  the  results  of  this  investigation?  And  what 
are  the  factors  that  detract  from  the  value  of  those  results  as 
conclusive  evidence  on  the  question  herein  treated? 

It  may  be  objected  that  these  records  for  all  tests  measure 
only  momentary  efficiency.  The  subject  gathered  her  energies, 
and  the  figures  show  only  what  can  be  done  on  a  "  spurt."  It 
is  true  that  no  tests  for  long  endurance  were  made.  It  was 
impossible  to  include  this  within  the  scope  of  the  present 
experiment.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  experiments  will  be 
made  to  ascertain  the  comparative  rate  of  motor  fatigue  during 
periods,  for  long  continued  work.  The  matter  of  determining 
comparative  mental  fatigue  presents  great  difficulties,  since  it 
would  involve  almost  continuous  mental  labor  at  one  task  every 
day  for  several  months, — a  truly  heroic  undertaking.  Moreover, 
the  existence  of  a  purely  mental  fatigue,  entirely  apart  from 
physical  fatigue,  has  never  been  satisfactorily  demonstrated. 

However,  since  these  subjects  did  not  lessen  their  usual 
amount  of  work  in  any  conscious  way  during  periods,  it  might 
be  reasonably  inferred  that  if  endurance  were  less  at  such  times, 
the  subjects  would  be  unusually  tired  by  nightfall,  and  that  this 
fatigue  would  manifest  itself  in  poorer  records.  But  the  figures 
do  not  show  that  this  was  the  case. 

That  which  may  be  fairly  claimed  for  these  tests  is  that  they 
yield  a  sample  of  the  individual's  efficiency,  at  a  given  time,  in 
the  traits  which  they  are  designed  to  measure.  That  is,  if  the 
actual  maximum  speed  of  movement  were  lessened,  if  the  qual- 
ity of  perception,  inhibition,  and  association  were  impaired, 
these  tests  would  reveal  the  condition.  It  is  not  likely  that  any 
greater  effort  was  put  forth  during  critical  periods  than  on  other 
days,  especially  in  the  cases  of  Fi  and  F3,  and  some  of  the  sub- 
jects in  the  extensive  experiment,  who  knew  nothing  of  the 
purpose  of  the  tests,  and  whose  attention  was  in  no  way  called 

92 


Conclusions  93 

to  the  fact  that  they  were  being  tested  at  a  critical  moment. 
It  is  also  true  that  when  the  nervous  system  is  in  a  state  of 
real  agitation,  increased  effort  to  control  the  resulting  confusion 
only  increases  the  agitation,  and  the  individual  has  little  power 
to  conceal  his  or  her  true  condition  in  such  a  test  as  that  for 
steadiness.     This  also  holds  for  the  other  tests  here  used. 

It  is  stated  by  various  scientific  workers  and  others  (see 
chapter  on  Previous  Literature)  that  the  sense  of  well  being 
and  the  feeling  of  efficiency  is  diminished  among  normal  women 
at  catamenial  periods.  It  is  evident  that  these  tests  do  not  touch 
upon  this  point.  They  measure  only  sensori-motor  and  asso- 
ciational  processes ;  the  affective  and  volitional  processes  are 
left  unmeasured,  except  in  so  far  as  the  negative  results  indi- 
cate no  unfavorable  influence  on  volitional  and  affective  proc- 
esses during  critical  periods. 

The  most  important  objection  to  any  general  conclusion  drawn 
from  the  data  presented  is,  of  course,  that  the  subjects  studied 
were  but  twenty-three,  and  that  the  subjects  studied  intensively 
were  but  six.  This  objection  is  admissible,  but  the  difficulty  of 
obtaining  a  large  number  of  subjects  who  can  and  will  give  up 
a  stated  hour  every  day  for  several  months,  without  compensa- 
tion and  without  information  as  to  what  the  object  of  the  work 
may  be,  is  obvious.  However,  it  must  be  noted  that  the  records 
of  all  the  women  here  studied  agree  in  supporting  the  negative 
conclusion  here  presented.  None  of  them  shows  a  characteristic 
inefficiency  in  the  traits  here  tested  at  menstrual  periods.  And 
there  is  no  reason  to  suppose  that  they  do  not  constitute  a  fair, 
though  small,  sample  of  the  world  of  normal  women.  They 
ranged  from  20  years  to  45  years  in  age,  the  mode  for  the  group 
falling  between  24  and  34  years.  They  were  engaged  in  both 
professional  and  domestic  work.  They  had,  to  be  sure,  in  com- 
mon the  fact  that  all  had  undergone  the  process  of  professional 
training.  It  may  be  argued  that  this  fact  in  itself  shows  them 
to  be  a  group  highly  selected  on  the  basis  of  physical  strength 
and  endurance,  and  therefore  more  likely  than  women  in  general 
to  show  negative  results  in  these  tests.  On  the  other  hand  it 
may  be  argued  that,  far  from  making  of  them  a  selected  group 
likely  to  show  negative  results  at  menstrual  periods,  this  factor 
of  strict  professional  training  would  lead  us  to  expect  a  very 


94  Functional  Periodicity 

marked  disturbance  at  such  times,  since,  according  to  the  views 
quoted  (see  chapter  on  Previous  Literature),  strict  professional 
training  acts  to  produce  far-reaching  and  disastrous  effects  upon 
this  function. 

These  records,  of  course,  tell  nothing  about  what  may  be  true 
in  pathological  cases,  which  in  themselves  offer  an  interesting 
opportunity  for  investigations  similar  to  this.  Data  concerning 
the  latter  would  be  much  more  easily  gathered  than  in  the  case 
of  normal  women,  since  pathological  persons  are  collected  for 
long  periods  in  institutions,  and  are  available  for  experiment 
which  requires  a  stated  hour  every  day. 

It  is  obvious,  therefore,  that  the  present  study  by  no  means 
covers  all  phases  of  the  question  of  the  mental  and  motor  abili- 
ties of  women  during  menstruation.  It  does  cover  the  traits 
of  voluntary  speed  of  movement,  steadiness,  speed  and  accuracy 
of  perception,  and  controlled  association.  It  is  suggestive,  also, 
beyond  the  specific  traits  which  are  definitely  measured,  in  that 
it  shows  what  happened  in  the  only  cases  where  the  mental  and 
motor  abilities  of  women  during  menstruation  have  been  investi- 
gated by  rigidly  controlled  experimental  method,  and  by  means 
of  instruments  of  precision.  The  results  may  be  briefly  and 
specifically  stated  as  follows : 

(i)  Careful  and  exact  measurement  does  not  reveal  a  periodic 
mental  or  motor  inefficiency  in  normal  women. 

(2)  No  part  of  the  period  is  affected. 

(3)  Physical  suffering  seems  to  affect  associational  processes 
adversely,  judging  from  the  two  instances  here  recorded  where 
suffering  was  experienced  on  the  first  day. 

(4)  The  variability  of  performance  is  not  affected  by  physio- 
logical periodicity. 

(5)  No  regularly  recurring  period  of  maximum  efficiency 
within  each  month  is  discernible. 

(6)  The  "  cycle  "  referred  to  by  Ellis  and  others  is  not  dis- 
covered by  methods  of  precision. 

(7)  No  agreement  is  established  between  curves  platted  for 
pulse,  blood  pressure,  temperature,  caloric  radiation,  etc.,  and  the 
curves  of  work  for  the  mental  and  motor  traits  here  tested. 

It  is  astonishing  how  little  support  is  found  in  these  results 


Conclusions  95 

for  the  statements  quoted  earlier  in  this  paper.  It  is  difficult  to 
understand  such  striking  disparity  between  what  has  been  ac- 
cepted and  the  figures  yielded  by  scientific  method.  Yet  several 
factors  come  at  once  to  mind,  which  may  have  contributed  to  the 
situation. 

In  the  first  place,  the  tradition  emanating  from  the  mystic 
and  romantic  novelists,  that  woman  is  a  mysterious  being,  half 
hysteric,  half  angel,  has  found  its  way  into  scientific  writing. 
Through  the  centuries  gone  those  who  wrote  were  men,  and 
since  the  phenomenon  of  periodicity  was  foreign  to  them,  they 
not  unnaturally  seized  upon  it  as  a  probable  source  of  the  alleged 
"  mystery  "  and  "  caprice  "  of  womankind.  The  dogma  once 
formulated  has  been  quoted  on  authority  from  author  to  author 
until  the  present  day. 

A  more  immediate  source  of  error  is  to  be  noted  in  the  fact 
that  the  greater  part  of  the  evidence  quoted  on  this  subject 
is  clinical  in  character, — the  contribution  of  physicians.  But  it 
should  be  obvious  to  the  least  critical  mind  that  normal  women 
do  not  come  under  the  care  and  observation  of  physicians. 

To  investigate  the  matter  experimentally  has  been  somewhat 
difficult,  because  until  very  recently  all  investigators  were  men, 
and  the  taboo  put  upon  the  phenomenon  by  men  and  women 
alike,  rendered  it  a  more  or  less  unapproachable  subject  for 
experiment  by  men  who  were  not  physicians.  And  since  physi- 
cians are  seldom  acquainted  with  the  interests  and  methods  of 
experimental  psychology,  the  matter  has  not  been  undertaken 
by  them.  In  addition  to  the  difficulties  caused  by  the  taboo,  the 
conditions  of  a  conclusive  and  thorough  research  are  so  tedious 
that  this  problem  might  not  suggest  itself  for  experimental  solu- 
tion as  readily  as  many  others. 

A  quotation  from  Icard's  lengthy  treatise,^  published  in  Paris 

1  S.  Icard,  La  Femme  Pendant  la  Periode  Menstruelle,  1890. 

"La  fonction  menstruelle  peut,  par  sympathie,  surtout  chez  les  pre- 
disposees,  creer  un  etat  mental  variant  depuis  la  simple  psychalgie  .  .  . 
jusqu'a  I'irresponsabilite  absolue.  Telle  est  la  proposition  que  je  formule, 
et  ce  que  je  vais  essayer  de  demontrer. 

"J'ai  longuement  et  consciencieusement  etudie  mon  sujet.     Ce  travail 

est  le   fruit  de  plusieurs   annees   d'   etude.     Je   citerai    a  I'appui   de  ma 

these  I'opinion  des  auteurs  les  plus  celebre.     Je  ferai  parler  les  anciens 

.     Apres  avoir  entcndu  les  maitrcs  nous  laisserons  la  parole  aux 

faits;     ...     a  dessein  j'appoite  peu  d'observations  personnelles     .     .     . 

"  J'ai    consulte    avec    soin    des    alienists    distingues,    des    pretres    con- 


96  Functional  Periodicity 

in  1890,  is  interesting  and  instructive  as  an  illustration  of  the 
kind  of  data  formerly  collected,  and  the  manner  of  collecting 
data.     The  following  occurs  in  the  Introduction  to  that  book, 

"  The  menstrual  function  may,  especially  in  the  case  of  the  predisposed, 
induce  sympathetically  a  mental  state,  varying  from  a  slight  psychosis — 
to  absolute  irresponsibility.  Such  is  the  proposition  which  I  lay  down, 
and  which  I  shall  endeavor  to  demonstrate. 

"  I  have  studied  my  subject  long  and  conscientiously.  This  work  is 
the  fruit  of  many  years  of  study.  I  shall  cite  in  support  of  my  thesis 
the  opinion  of  the  most  famous  authors.  From  time  to  time  I  shall 
let  the  ancients  speak.  .  .  .  Finally  I  shall  give  some  of  my  per- 
sonal observations.     . 

"I  have  consulted  with  care  distinguished  alienists,  father  confessors, 
and  directors  of  convents,  superintendents  of  boarding  schools  and  homes 
of  refuge,  mid-wives,  women  of  the  world.     . 

"  I  can  do  no  better  than  to  resay  badly  in  prose  what  Alfred  de 
Musset  has  said  so  well  in  verse: 

" 'L'ame  et  le  corps,  helas!  ils  iront  deux  a  deux, 
Tant  que  le  monde  ira,  pas  a  pas,  cote  a  cote, 
Comme  s'en  vent  les  vers  classiques  et  les  boeufs, 
L'un   disant :    '  Tu  f  ais  mal ! '   et  I'autre,   '  C'est  ta   f  aute.'  " 

On  the  basis  of  data  thus  collected,  Icard-  concludes :  "  The 
psychical  and  physical  state  of  woman  during  the  menstrual 
period  seems  to  me  to  constitute  one  of  the  chief  reasons  why 
she  should  not  administer  public  affairs.  Indeed,  one  cannot 
depend  upon  a  health  so  fragile  and  so  often  disturbed ;  thf* 
errors  of  judgment  and  the  false  evaluations  so  often  made  at 
that  time  prove  that  they    (women)    are   unable  to  undertake 


fesseurs,  et  directeurs  des  convents  des  femmes,  des  directrices  de  pen- 
sionnats  et  de  refuges,  des  accoucheuses,  des  femmes  du  monde  "... 

"Je  ne  fais  que  redire  en  mauvais  prose  ce  qu'  Alfred  de  Musset  a 
dit  si  bien  en  vers :" 

And  later: 

"  Les  anciens  .  .  .  traduissaient  leur  pensee  en  disant  que  la  femme 
est  alors  lunatique,  expression  qui  s'est  conservee  jusqu'  a  nous,  et  qui 
peint  tres  bien  I'etat  d'instabilite  nerveuse  et  psychique  dans  lequel  se 
trouve  la  femme  a  cette  epoque." 

2  Icard,  op.  cit.,  p.  263. 

"  L'etat  physique  et  psychique  de  la  femme  pendant  la  periode  men- 
struelle  me  parait  une  des  raisons  principales  qui  doivent  la  tenir 
eloignee  de  la  gestion  des  affaires  publiques.  On  ne  saurait  en  effet, 
se  reposer  sur  une  sante  aussi  delicate  et  si  souvent  troublee ;  les  erreurs 
de  jugement  et  les  appreciations  fausses  dont  elles  donnent  alors  si 
souvent  la  preuve  lui  permettre  de  s'occuper  convenablement  et  avec 
succes  de  ce  qui  doit  etre  I'appanage  exclusive  du  sexe  fort." 


Conclusions  97 

comfortably  and  successfully  that  which  should  be  the  exclusive 
lot  of  the  strong  sex." 

From  whatever  source  or  sources  the  idea  of  woman's  periodic 
irresponsibility  may  have  risen,  it  is  certainly  very  widespread. 
Men  of  the  most  varied  interests  and  professional  equipment 
have  written  on  the  matter, — historians,  physicians,  lawyers, 
philosophers,  physiologists,  novelists  and  educators.  Men  to 
whom  it  would  never  have  occurred  to  write  authoritatively  on 
any  other  subject  regarding  which  they  possessed  no  reliable 
or  expert  knowledge,  have  not  hesitated  to  make  the  most  posi- 
tive statements  regarding  the  mental  and  motor  abilities  of 
women  as  related  to  functional  periodicity.  Even  the  daily  press 
has  lately  exploited  periodicity  as  an  argument  against  conceding 
political  freedom  to  women.^  Yet  the  irresponsibility  and  in- 
efficiency so  widely  proclaimed  in  theory  are  not  considered  and 
are  not  realized  in  practice.  The  psychologist  writes  that  there 
are  grave  and  profound  changes  in  mind  and  body  during  men- 
struation ;  yet  he  makes  no  allowance  for  this  in  his  experi- 
ments on  women  subjects.  The  physician  declared  fifty  years 
ago  that  women  were  forever  unfitted  for  higher  education  be- 
cause of  this  function;  yet  the  number  of  women  graduated 
from  colleges  and  universities  in  perfectly  normal  health  in- 
creases yearly.  It  is  positively  asserted  that  women  cannot 
successfully  pursue  professional  and  industrial  life  because  they 
are  incapacitated,  and  should  rest  for  one-fifth  of  their  time; 
yet  it  is  not  proposed  that  mothers,  housekeepers,  cooks,  scrub- 
women and  dancers  should  be  relieved  periodically  from  their 
labors  and  responsibilities. 

3  The  New  York  Times  for  March  28,  1912,  contains  the  following 
paragraph : 

"  No  doctor  can  ever  lose  sight  of  the  fact  that  the  mind  of  a  woman 
is  always  threatened  with  danger  from  the  reverberations  of  her  physio- 
logical emergencies.  It  is  with  such  thoughts  that  the  doctor  lets  his 
eyes  rest  upon  the  militant  suffragist.  He  cannot  shut  them  to  the  fact 
that  there  is  mixed  up  in  the  woman's  movement  such  mental  disorder, 
and  he  cannot  conceal  from  himself  the  physiological  emergencies  which 
lie  behind." 

Note. — Yet  scientific  workers  writing  as  late  as  1907  and  1909  quote 
Icard  as  giving  "  a  full  and  careful  statement  of  the  present  state  of 
knowledge  regarding  the  mental  condition  of  women  during  the  men- 
strual period"  (H.  Ellis,  op.  cit.,  p.  293),  and  quote  his  conclusions 
without  critical  comment,  as  facts  established  (G.  S.  Hall,  op.  cit.,  Vol. 
I,  pp.  498-499).  Gross  (op.  cit.,  p.  312),  says,  "Icard  has  written  the 
best  monograph  on  this  subject,"  meaning  the  mental  state  of  women 
during  menstruation,  especially  with  reference  to  legal  responsibility! 


98  Functional  Periodicity 

Furthermore,  tlie  various  scientific  writers  who  have  expressed 
themselves  on  this  subject,  even  when  contemporaneous,  are 
far  from  uniform  in  statement.  (See  chapter  on  Previous  Lit- 
erature.) Hall,*  for  instance,  places  the  period  of  maximum 
efficiency  and  vitality  after  the  hemorrhage ;  Van  Ott,°  before  it. 
Jacobi*'  concludes  that  there  is  no  reason  why  normal  women 
should  rest  during  menstruation  ;  Clarke"  urgently  insists  that 
the  whole  educational  schedule  of  women  must  be  regulated  by 
it.  Clouston^  declares  that  the  influence  of  menstruation  is 
marked  and  universal  among  insane  patients ;  Nacke"  denies  that 
there  is  a  pronounced  effect  on  the  insane,  due  to  menstruation, 
and  is  inclined  to  doubt  its  influence  altogether. 

Thus  the  disparity  between  accepted  dogma  and  the  results 
of  scientific  method  is,  perhaps,  not  so  surprising  after  all. 
The  remarks  made  by  J.  Stuart  Mill^"  in  1867  are  still  about 
as  true  as  they  then  were : 

"  Even  the  preliminary  knowledge,  what  the  differences  between  the 
sexes  now  are,  apart  from  all  question  as  to  how  they  are  made  what 
they  are,  is  still  in  the  crudest  and  most  incomplete  state.  Medical 
practitioners  and  physiologists  have  ascertained  to  some  extent  the  dif- 
ferences in  bodily  constitution ;  and  this  is  an  important  element  to  the 
psychologist ;  but  hardly  any  medical  practitioner  is  a  psychologist.  Re- 
specting the  mental  characteristics  of  women,  their  observations  are  of 


■*  G.  S.  Hall,  op.  cit.,  p.  492. 

^  Van  Ott,  op.  cit.,  p.  505. 

*  M.  P.  Jacobi,  op.  cit.,  p.  227. 

'  E.  H  .Clarke,  Sex  in  Education,  1873,  p.  45. 

^  Clouston   (see  Ellis,  op.  cit.,  p.  293). 

"  The  melancholies  are  more  depressed,  the  maniacal  more  restless, 
the  delusional  more  under  the  influence  of  their  delusions  in  their  con- 
duct; those  subject  to  hallucinations  have  them  more  intensely,  the  im- 
pulsive cases  are  more  uncontrollable,  the  cases  of  stupor  more  stupid, 
and  the  demented  tend  to  be  excited." 

^  P.  Nacke,  Die  Menstruation  und  ihre  Einfluss  bei  Chroniken  Psy- 
chosen.    Arch.  f.  Psychiat,  1896,  Vol.  28,  No.  i,  pp.  188-9. 

"  Nur  f  iir  wenige  Fiille,  meine  ich,  konnte  man  eine  eventuelle  Ab- 
hangigkeit  einer  psychischen  Aenderung  von  dem  Menstruationsvorgange 
selbst  annehmen,  das  sind  namlich  die  Falle  von  schwerer  Dysmenorrhoe 

"  Schwerlich  wird  sich  die  Lebenscurve  nur  auf  die  Zeit  der  Gesch- 
lechtsreife  beziehen ;  sie  fangt  wahrschienlich  mit  der  Geburt  an,  um 
erst  mit  dem  Tode  aufzuhoren,  doch  mit  einem  Maximum  wahrend  der 
Geschlechtsreife.  Sie  scheint  auch  beim  Manne  zu  existieren,  und  ist 
vielleicht  gar  ein  allgemeines  biologisches  Gesetz  der  gesammten  organ- 
ischen  Welt.  .  .  .  Auf  diesem  ganzen  Gebiete  giebt  es  also  noch 
unendlich  viele  Probleme  zu  losen,  da  wir  erst  am  Anfange  der  diesbeziig- 
lichen  Studien  stehen." 

i<'J.  Stuart  Mill,  The  Subjection  of  Women,  1867,  p.  42. 


Conclusions  99 

no  more  account  than  those  of  common  men.  It  is  a  subject  on  which 
nothing  final  can  be  known  so  long  as  those  who  alone  can  really  know 
it,  women  themselves,  have  given  but  little  testimony.     .      .      ." 

It  seems  appropriate  and  desirable  that  women  should  investi- 
gate these  matters  experimentally,  now  that  the  opportunity  for 
training  and  research  is  open  to  them.  Thus,  in  time,  may  be 
written  a  psychology  of  woman  based  on  truth,  not  on  opinion ; 
on  precise,  not  on  anecdotal  evidence ;  on  accurate  data  rather 
than  on  remnants  of  magic.  Thus  may  scientific  light  be  cast 
upon  the  question  so  widely  discussed  at  present  and  for  several 
decades  past, — whether  women  may  at  last  contribute  their  best 
intellectual  effort  toward  human  progress,  or  whether  it  will  be 
expedient  for  them  to  remain  in  the  future  as  they  have  remained 
in  the  past,  the  matrix  from  which  proceed  the  dynamic  agents 
of  society. 


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